City in the Sky
by Shade Eido
Summary: It all begins somewhere and ends nowhere...
1. Unus

_**City in the Sky**_

_**A World After Thought**_

_If dreams were clouds, we'd use them to step into the gates of heaven…_

He looked silently up at the ceiling, wondering where life would lead him.

_Looking upon the darkness accentuates the absence of light_.

Unsure of the future, she silently hopes for a peaceful resolution.

_Whispers of the night only shake the sleepless hearts of the brooding._

Uncertainty of the past leads him only to shrink from the future.

_Heaven's gates only open when an ascendant knocks. _

Life had taught him many lessons; and one of them, as he soon finds out, is that not all that glitters is gold.

_Reality is but one color of existence. _

_**Ünus**_

She sat up and smoothed out her shirt, knowing only that she was in yet another unfamiliar place with three very familiar people. The preceding fact filled her with dread, while the latter filled her with a strange, seemingly warm, comfort. She decided, quite a while back, that the powers that were predestined them to remain together.

_But for how long? Surely my friends would like to return to the life that they had before all of this drama began… Why do I feel as if I am to blame? Why?_

She quietly sat up and gazed out the dusty window; locking her eyes on the pale moons that hung lazily above the clouds.

_The moon is so bright tonight; it looks as if it could envelop all of Filgaia with its gentle light. _

Light was something that both comforted her and instilled her heart with an unspoken fear.

_What would happen if I lost the "light" that I have held on to for so long? _

She threw her legs over the side of the bed and caught a glimpse of her moonlit reflection; it stared hauntingly back at her and then flinched.

_Afraid of my own shadow… How pathetic. _

With a sigh, she stood up and looked away from the mirror, toward the door that was adjacent to the bed. She knew where it led; but she didn't know what it would lead to. Whom would she meet? What would she do if she met up with the unexpected?

_Or am I just being paranoid? _

She sighed with irritation and walked toward the door, her heart skipping a beat as she reached out to touch the moon-kissed, rusted knob.

_I'll check on them. The ones I… love. _

With that, she twisted the knob and existed out into the cool, damp, hallway.

Her shadow stretched across the adjoining wall as she made her way toward Jet's room, her lightly clothed feet barely making a noise against the cool, dry, wood.

_I wonder if he's asleep? _

She thought as she stopped outside his door, looking down at the doorknob with a hint of apprehension.

_Regardless, I just have a feeling that I need to be _here _right now. Who cares if he's asleep? _

She thought, adding the last bit with a half smile.

She slowly opened the door and watched as the dim light from the moonlit hallway fell across the sleeping young man in a sliver.

_He's asleep, perhaps I should…_

"What are you doing just standing there? Come in before we get a small audience." Grumbled Jet as he sat up in bed and pulled the covers bashfully over his bare chest. Virginia stopped herself from blushing by thinking of something little less savory, such as Leehalt in nothing but heart boxers. She thought of the last bit with a grin.

"Sorry," She whispered, stepping into his room and then turning around to shut the door, unaware that the young android was eyeing her in more ways then one. "I just had to make sure you were okay." She smiled as she turned around to face the still staring young man. Jet blinked to this; a small wisp of blush crossing his face.

"Why _wouldn't _I be okay?" He huffed, pulling the thin, white, sheet a little tighter around his bare chest. Virginia smiled to this question and alighted herself on the foot of his bed, extracting an annoyed sigh from the young android.

"I don't know, why wouldn't you be?" She giggled, tugging at one of his feet, receiving a Grade A Jet Scowl for her efforts.

"Don't answer a question with a question!" exclaimed Jet, pulling the cover all the way up to his chin and shivering. Virginia tilted her head to the side.

"Are you cold, Jet?" She asked, standing up and looking down at him with concern. Jet shook his head "no" although, in truth, he was somewhat cold.

"You know, Jet, you make a terrible liar." She smiled, walking in a cat like stride toward the small closet that housed extra blankets and toiletries.

Jet sniffed to this, looked out the window, and noted with a certain amount of disdain that it looked as if it was going to storm soon.

"Whatever… And, what are you _doing?" _He asked as she threw a blanket over his feet.

"Keeping you warm, what else?" She laughed, walking back toward the door and opening it.

"Why did you come in her anyhow? Just to bother me?" He snorted, laying back down in bed and peering up at her from underneath the sheets.

She glanced back at him, her smile now hiding in the shadows.

"I felt as if something was wrong, that's all." She sighed, walking out and shutting the door quietly behind her.

"Well… Shit." muttered Jet, standing up and looking around his room for some clothes.

Virginia proceeded down the hall in typical, cat like fashion, thousands of thoughts running through her head, and not one of them making sense.

_Why do I feel so protective all of the sudden? Furthermore, why am I wandering around at three in the morning waking everyone up and…? _All forms of thought were cut off when she ran into a solid form and suppressed the urge to scream. Two hands wrapped supportably around her shoulders and she blinked up at a half asleep Gallows dressed in a grey nightshirt and pants.

"Hey, what're you doing up so early?" asked Gallows, looking down at her with an apologetic smile on his face as he released her shoulders.

"Um, well…" She started, looking toward his half open door. "I was going to check on you to make sure that…"

"I was okay?" finished Gallows, tilting his head to the side and giving her an unreadable look.

"Yeah, that's the gist of it." She sighed, looking back at him and giving him a sheepish look.

"Funny, I was about to do the same thing… Something just seems so… OFF about tonight. Do you feel that too?" Asked Gallows looking out the window and then back at her.

"Yeah, and it's creeping me out to be honest with you." She concluded, following Gallows' example by looking out the window.

"Maybe it's the weather or something? Low pressure nights have _always _unsettled Shane for some reason." pondered Gallows, looking back down at her with one of his trademark smiles.

"Heh. You know about "low pressure systems"." giggled Virginia, giving his shoulder a playful punch.

"Huh? Ow! Yeah, I do. I'm not a complete _idiot, _you know. 'Sides, we had to learn about agriculture at some point, y'know? "He grinned, rubbing his now sore shoulder.

Virginia frowned and sighed, causing Gallows to giving her a worried look.

"What's the matter, leader, you don't look too good. I don't mean to say that you look bad physically, I mean… "Virginia silenced him with a light kick to the shin.

"Shaddup before you do _more _damage with that sentence." She said, a small smile crossing her face. Gallows rubbed the back of head sheepishly and closed his eyes.

"Sorry 'bout that. But, seriously," He continued, opening his eyes and looking at her with concern "What's wrong? You really do seem stressed out."

"I woke up feeling like this. My mind felt wired with negative energy. I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. What woke you up?" She asked, looking at the Baskar with a certain amount of perplexity.

"To be honest with you; my story is the same as yours… 'Cept, I wasn't going to check on everybody, I was going to check on you. You see, I had this weird… thought. I can't quite call it a dream because I wasn't asleep. Nevertheless, in my thoughts I saw you looking in the mirror with a very haunted look on your face. Heh, isn't that something? Never thought I would start having visions." he snickered, looking past Virginia and toward Jet's room.

"Well, who's to say that Shane's the only one with a gift" smiled Virginia, stepping in front of his line of vision, startling him a bit.

"Huh? Well, to be honest with you, I never really thought of that. My mind was more preoccupied with the feeling that went with that thought…," pondered Gallows, redirecting his gaze at Virginia.

"What "feeling"?" asked Virginia, raising an eyebrow as she searched Gallows' face.

"This feeling of cold loneliness tinged with fear and doubt." he finished quietly, looking solemnly at the floor. Virginia sighed and looked past his shoulder toward the stairwell.

"Well, those are pretty much accurate. Why don't you and I go and wake up Clive and then head downstairs for some hot cocoa?" asked she, offering a hand to the still distracted Gallows. Gallows stared vacantly down at her hand for a moment or two before finally accepting it with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about that, leader, I just… I keep feeling as if something's off. It's bugging the hell out of me.," he concluded, shaking his head slowly from side to side, as he proceeded behind Virginia toward Clive's half-opened door. Virginia looked at the half open door with a look of half befuddlement, half concern.

"Do you think that Clive's already up and about?" inquired Virginia, stopping right in front of the door and looking back at her comrade, who was already looking at the door with an air of suspicion.

"I don't know. I really can't think of any _legitimate _reason as to why he'd be up so early. I know he's normally the first one to wake up out of the four of us but still…"

"Something seems wrong." finished Virginia, reaching for the doorknob and opening the door the rest of the way. Much to her relief and surprise the sniper was sleeping peacefully in his appointed bed, the moonlight washing tranquilly over his scruffy, handsome, face.

"Hm." smiled Virginia, opting to let her friend sleep a little bit longer before waking him up.

"I think perhaps we should just go downstairs and makes some cocoa. As soon as the cocoa is made we'll come back up here, wake him up, and then attempt to get Jet up as well." smiled Gallows, placing his hand lightly on Virginia's shoulder, startling her a bit.

"Huh? Yeah, cocoa, good… Fine." she mumbled, looking at him apologetically and then looking back at the sniper.

"Are we the only two that feel this way?" she whispered, looking back at the young Baskar as she shut the door and reached out for his hand again. Gallows removed his hand from her shoulder and took her hand into his own.

"Nah, I'm sure everyone feels like this every once in awhile." he smiled, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze as he nodded toward the darkened stairwell.

"Let's go get some of that hot cocoa into our systems. That may warm us up a bit." said Gallows when Virginia did not show any signs of movement. There were a couple of more moments of silence and then "Gallows, do you feel cold?"

Gallows shrugged and tilted his head a bit to the right.

"Now that you mention it, I _do _have a slight chill that I've yet to shake. Weird… That's why…" continued Gallows with a goofy grin. "I want to have some hot cocoa." Virginia chuckled to the young priest's comment and started to walk toward the stairs, her mind spinning a thousand, incoherent, thoughts as she made her way to the inn's kitchen.

"On the moonlit path we shall fly on our journey to the City in the Sky." whispered Gallows to no one in particular as he pulled the chair out for Virginia and then ambled over to pantry to get the necessary ingredients for their cocoa.

"Say what now?" inquired Virginia as she sat down and scooted the chair up to the table, giving Gallows a curious glance as he fumbled around with the pots.

"Hmm?" asked Gallows, pouring two cups of milk into a saucepan and lighting the old stove with a barely usable match.

"You just said something; what was it?" asked Virginia, tapping her foot unconsciously against the wooden floor. Gallows put out the match by flicking his hand once and threw it in the wastebasket.

"Oh, it was just something my grandma used to tell me and Shane." He smiled, turning his head to show his sheepish grin. Virginia laid her head down on the table and sighed.

"Would you mind telling it to me? I could use a good story to get my mind off of things." whispered Virginia, lifting her head from the table and looking at Gallows tiredly.

Gallows redirected his attention to the cocoa and stirred it a bit before he started to talk in an atypically quiet voice.

"There one was a place where Guardians and Humans lived in harmony. It was a place with no inhibitions and yet there were no problems and seemingly no sin. There were many names for this place. Some called it "Noth'ral" while others called it "Heaven". The thing was; heaven had already been named in the many manuscripts strewn across the sands of time; thus, Noth'ral was dubbed as the "Second Heaven". That mentality, it seemed, would change both the course of history and the overall aura of Noth'ral. Soon, the heavens darkened with bloody clouds and a steady, harsh, rain of tar fell upon all that dwelt there. It was said that the "Divine" had dubbed Noth'ral a brothel when compared to Its throne and cast Its darkened back to the masses of screaming people."

Gallows had Virginia's full attention now; she looked at his back and watched him silently as he continued to stir the cocoa in a rather mindless fashion.

"So, the Divine didn't approve of a second heaven and It turned Its back on it? How awful…" mused Virginia, looking down at her finger which was now tracing intricate designs on the table.

"Well, " said Gallows, ceasing the stirring for a moment or two, seemingly in thought. "I had a few theories as to why the "Divine" turned Its back… But, perhaps I should tell you the rest of the story before I continue."

"I'd hope that you would tell me the rest, this sounds interesting." smiled Virginia, stopping her finger from finishing the interlocking circles that she had been drawing and looking up at Gallows.

"Heh, thanks leader." chuckled Gallows, continuing his incremental stirring as he continued to relay the tale.

"It was rumored that the folks of Noth'ral, which, by the way, loosely translates into "City in the Sky", were outcasts from the original Heaven. They were too good to go to Ri'nthan, which is, if I remember correctly, the Baskarian form of what many call Hell, and yet, just below the standards to be allowed into the original Heaven. Funny thing was, Noth'ral, while still below heaven, was still perceived as "mysterious" and "astronomical". Many of the humans on earth looked up into the heavens to see if the could see the now darkened Noth'ral. How sad, that, through all of their peace and harmony, they were destroyed by, what many believed, created them. Noth'ral has been studied in length by many Baskarian scholars and some even believe that Noth'ral truly exists; although…" he concluded sadly "It's now in ruins and is home to many an embittered spirit."

"I see…," whispered Virginia, looking back down at the table, her eyes unfocused and a bit sleepy.

"Heh. I didn't mean to depress you, Virginia, it's just that nights like this, when the moon is shining the way that it is, invokes weird thoughts in my tiny little brain." He concluded, hissing a bit when a bit of chocolate milk splashed up and licked his hand.

"You don't have a tiny brain, Gallows; I don't know why you even say things like that." huffed Virginia, throwing a fork in his general direction. The fork bounced off his shoulder and he turned around to look back at her with a playfully pitiful frown on his face.

"Why do you wanna abuse me like that, leader?" He whined, picking up the fork and sitting it lightly on the counter.

"'Cause you're fun to pick on, Gallows." she smiled, standing up and walking up behind him, standing on tiptoe so that her chin rested on his shoulder. Gallows blinked and stopped stirring the cocoa.

"Huh? What's wrong?" he asked as she took in a couple of good sniffs of the chocolate goodness.

"Nothing, it just smells good." She sighed happily tilting her head to the side so that it rested on Gallows' neck. He fought the urge to drop the spoon into the saucepan and ask her if she was all right.

_Gee, why's she leaning on me? Is she feeling okay? I hope she's not sick or…_

"Hey, Gallows, I think the cocoa's done." she smiled, her whisper brushing past his ear and settling fragilely on the fragrant air.

"Nyuh? Huh? Oh, yeah, right." He mumbled, his words fumbling along with his actions. The spoon dropped into the cocoa and Virginia started to laugh, at a lack of anything intelligent to say.

"You may not have a small brain but you do have clumsy hands." She said, rocking back on to her feet and creeping to the side of him, reaching for the knob. Gallows chuckled and let her turn the stove off as he reached an arm around her to reach for the oven mitt.

"Well, I ain't denying that. I'm not the most graceful man in the world." Another chuckle escaped his lips as he picked up saucepan; "That's Jet's job, not mine."

"What's my "job", Romeo?" Came an annoyed voice from across the room, Gallows and Virginia turned around simultaneously.

"Hey, Jet, Gallows and I were just talking about you." smiled Virginia, walking over to him and taking his hand lightly in hers. "We're having cocoa, want some?" She asked, looking back toward Gallows to make sure he was fine with it. To this look, Gallows nodded his acknowledgement and added a bit more cocoa.

"Well, seeing as that Gallows is already making some I don't see why I shouldn't." shrugged Jet, sitting down at the table and looking at Gallows as he stirred more cocoa into the milk.

"I'm glad that you're awake, Jet, it saves me the trouble of waking your grumpy ass up." chuckled Gallows, continuously stirring the mix, not bothering to look back at Jet.

"Grumpy ass, hm? Well, I wouldn't be so grumpy if you didn't snore so loud." Retorted Jet coolly, picking up a spoon and tossing it up in the air with the intent to catch it as it fell.

"Jet, it's not nice talking about Gallows' snoring problem…" Blushed Virginia, catching the spoon as it fell back toward Jet's hand and throwing that one at Gallows too. Gallows, this time, somehow perceiving the object hurtling toward his head, turned around and caught it with one hand just inches before it smacked his head.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, that's not nice. That's the second time, my dear Ms. Maxwell." He smiled, waving the spoon playfully. "One more throw and you won't be nice anymore." He concluded, setting the spoon beside the fork that she had thrown earlier and turning around to light the stove again. Virginia laughed quietly and looked at Jet, who was now pawing around on the table for reasons unknown.

"Gallows, if we counted all the time you've been made a fool of, there'd be a lot of "not nice" people in this world." sniffed Jet, picking up a dull butter knife and handing it to Virginia with an almost lopsided smile on his face.

_Boy, is he feeling all right? Normally he's just really cold and dour. Now… _

She balanced the knife on her thumb and watched as the dim candle light bounced off its dull, aged, surface.

"Hey Gallows, do you have an apple to put on your head?" snickered the young, female, Drifter. Gallows turned around and raised an eyebrow to Virginia's bizarre balancing act.

"If you wanna put a knife through it I don't. 'Sides, what'd the apple do to you?" inquired the Baskar, tapping the spoon on his thigh in his typical, playful, manner. Virginia drew her lips into a playful pout and leaned her head toward her right shoulder.

"It was taunting me all day! It was like "Oh, Virginia, put me on Gallows' head and then put a knife through me! C'mon, it'll be fun!" I mean, how could I refuse such a taunt?"

Gallows blinked to this and then turned back around, incrementally stirring the cocoa as his shoulders shook with a series of chuckles.

"I don't believe that I would listen to suicidal fruit at any rate." added Gallows after a couple of seconds of deliberating. Jet shook his head, an unintentional smile crossing his pale, candle lit, face.

"I doubt I would either. It's official; our leader is nuts and listens to fruit." Cackled Jet, for some reason, feeling uncharacteristically amused. Virginia had to, once again, refrain from laughing aloud.

"Oh Gallows, you're so silly." giggled the young woman, sitting the knife down and looking out the window, the moon's pale waves washing softly over her skin.

"I try to be." smiled the young priest. Jet sniffed, his face falling back into his customary frown.

"Is the cocoa almost ready?"

Gallows nodded his head to this and turned off the stove, once again reaching for an oven mitt.

"Gallows, tell Jet and I more about Noth'ral." mused Virginia as Gallows sat a cup of warm cocoa in front of her. Jet rested his elbow on the table and his chin on his outstretched hand as Gallows sat a similar cup in front of him.

"I'm completely lost, start from the beginning." quipped Jet, cringing inwardly at how close to demanding he sounded. Gallows sighed as he sat the mug down on the table and then lowered himself into the chair in an almost dejected manner.

"It's… kind of a long story. Do you mind listening?" inquired Gallows, pushing a streak of white hair from his face.

"As long as it doesn't involve your love life, I'm fine." simpered Jet, watching the flames dance hypnotically in front of him.

"Well, basically, Noth'ral is a second heaven if you will. It's said that those who were turned away from both the original heaven and Ri'nthan, which is, as I already told Virginia, the Baskarian term for what you all call hell, went there. However, the Divine did not see fit for Noth'ral to continue so It turned its back, and in doing so, caused Noth'ral to crumble into turmoil. You see, everything relies on balance and it just so happened that Noth'ral was the middle ground; so, when the Divine turned Its back, Noth'ral was thrown into despair." concluded Gallows, picking up the mug and taking a swig of cocoa.

"So, where is it?" asked Jet, taking a sip, cringing due to the heat, and putting in lightly back down on the table with a scoff etched across his face.

Gallows pointed up toward the ceiling.

"Somewhere up there. Historians are really sketchy about that, ya know." smiled Gallows, punctuating the last part of his sentence with a yawn. "For some, weird, reason, storytelling makes me sleepy." he said, stretching and standing up with a pop.

"Old man…" simpered Jet into his cup, trying to hide a grin. Gallows blinked down at the young man skeptically and then grinned.

"Oh yes, ancient, why, I even have the white hair to prove it. Really, Jet, if anyone looks old in this room it's…" He was interrupted by a glare from Virginia. "Huh? Wha? I was about to say Jet, my dear leader. Sheesh. You look far from old. You look just right actually." He grinned in a rather flirtatious manner. Virginia blushed and spun her cup around absently.

"It's not gonna take off and fly you know." quipped Jet, casually stirring the cup of cocoa with his finger and then plopping his finger into his mouth with an almost innocent look.

"I'm aware of that, Mr. Enduro, thanks for the heads up though."

"Jeez Louise…" chuckled Gallows, "already arguing like a married couple."

"Shut UP!" Jet and Virginia said simultaneously, extracting another amused chuckle.

"Err. Gallows thinks he's just soo cute…" huffed Virginia, standing up and walking lithely toward Gallows. Gallows looked to both his sides nervously.

"W-what?" He chuckled, taking a couple of steps back.

Virginia took one, big, step forward, grabbed the lapels of Gallows' nightshirt and gave him a playful shake.

Gallows closed his eyes and playfully lolled his tongue out the side of his mouth.

"She killed me! The cute one is DEAD!" he mourned as Virginia continued to shake him.

"If you're dead," she smiled between shakes, "how are you still talking?" she finished, letting go of his nightshirt and popping him smartly on the chest with the back of her hand.

"Umm, I'm a ghost maybe?" he asked innocently, rubbing what he knew was a red mark on his chest.

"Great, just great, what're we going to tell the inn master?" sighed Jet, finishing his cocoa with a content sip and looking at the shaken Baskar and the amused Drifter.

"Tell him I went to the city in the sky?" grinned Gallows, backing away from another hit aimed at his chest.

"You ain't going there for awhile, big guy." smiled Virginia reaching out once again, grabbing Gallows' arm and giving it a quick squeeze before letting go. "We need you after all."

"Nah. You all don't need me. I'll just pack my bags and…" he walked playfully toward the swinging doors when a small hand on his stopped him. He stopped, and looked down and back to see a very wide-eyed Virginia looking at him.

"Don't talk like that. Besides, if you go somewhere, we'll go too; right Jet?" she grinned, looking back toward the silver-haired Drifter, who was at that moment, looking down at his empty cup abysmally.

"Whatever…" he sniffed, picking up the cup and peering into it to make sure there was nothing left.

"Do you want some more cocoa, Jet?" smiled Gallows, walking back toward the table and extending his hand toward the young android. Jet shook his head and handed the mug to Gallows.

"No, actually, I just want to go for a brief walk." He mumbled, walking both Gallows and Virginia, extracting a puzzled look from both.

"Umm, Jet, not to be rude or anything; but are you _sure _you want to go out? I mean, we're still outlaws and we _still _have a bounty on our heads…" mused Gallows, the worry he felt creasing his face.

Jet shrugged to this question.

"I need some time to think. Some "me" time as it were." He quipped, lifting one arm to his side in a half-hearted wave. "If you want to come with me you had best get dressed…" He stopped in mid-stride and looked toward his comrades with a half smile "Unless of course you _want _to be caught in your undergarments…"

"I have you know I'm decent!" huffed Virginia, nevertheless tightening her arms across her chest in a self-conscious manner. Gallows cackled and tugged at his nightclothes.

"I'm dressed more than I normally am, what more can I say?"

"I am dressed out of convenience; what, exactly, is going on here?" Came a sleep muffled voice from the doorframe leading into the hallway.

"Clive! What're you doing awake?" laughed Gallows quietly, walking up to the older Drifter and patting him soundly on his back. Clive ran a hand through his unruly green hair and smiled a bit.

"I heard some very interesting dialog from the maids as they made their rounds, so I could only assumed that it was you three causing it all."

"Sorry if we woke you up." replied Virginia in a rather sheepish manner.

"Ah, don't be sorry, Leader, I'm sure he would've woken up eventually anyway, right Clive?" grinned Gallows, playfully elbowing Clive in his black clad side. Clive cringed and scratched his head.

"I suppose so. Regardless, what are we going to do now that we are up and about?" he inquired, smoothing out his black, cotton, nightshirt.

"Well, I guess we're all going for a walk. Jet said he wanted some "him" time, so it may be best just to hang a distance from him. Of course, we can't let him out of our sights but we can just let him be alone." she smiled, hoping that what she said made sense.

"You know, I'm still right here." grumbled Jet, his face twisted and a look of annoyance and perhaps a tinge of amusement.

"We know, punk, we're just making it so that you hear everything we're planning. Now that I think about it, it is somewhat redundant… Oh well. Heh, if we're gonna go for a walk we may as well get going. Oh, and Clive, if we're going for a little midnight stroll, perhaps putting on some pants would help." Gallows pointed out, making Clive look down at his underwear.

"O-oh dear, just one moment, please." With those words uttered with both haste and embarrassment, Clive rushed back up to his room to attire himself in a more fitting manner.


	2. Duo

-1**_Duo_**

The sands of the wasteland sparkled with dim moonlight. For some reason, this made Virginia a bit melancholy. Gallows, noting his friend's melancholic mood, quickened his pace and walked up beside her.

"You know, maybe we'll see the path to Noth'ral; the sky is clear enough." He smiled, patting Virginia lightly on the shoulder. Virginia stopped in mid-stride and looked at Gallows with a hint of amusement.

"You really believe that Noth'ral exists?"

Jet, who was several feet ahead of the rest of the group, stopped and looked back with irritation.

"Yeah, after all I've seen, I'd believe anything." replied Gallows to Virginia's question. Jet back peddled with irritation and gave Gallows' arm a light punch.

"Now I wish that I never asked you two to come along! Honestly, you two are so _annoying_! Clive is off…Wait a moment, where _is _Clive?" inquire Jet, looking around in confusion.

"I am right here." came a voice from behind a rock formation. "Sorry, call of nature." Clive added with a slight blush.

"Ah, no problem, Clive, we were just worried is all." smiled Virginia as she started to walk again.

"… Really, you all are annoying." grumbled Jet, moving forward again at a quicker pace than the other three Drifters.

"You all are annoying…" mouthed Gallows, rolling his eyes and then glancing at his two companions. "Really, he sure does need some social skills."

Jet looked back and glared at Gallows.

"Speak for yourself, moron." grumbled the silver hair Drifter.

_Well fuck you too, buddy…_

Virginia, uncomfortable with the silence that followed Jet's sentence, coughed a cute, concise, cough. Jet did not stop, he did, however, slow down when he heard Virginia's cough.

"You know, I really think that Noth'ral could exist. I mean, we all know that the Guardians exist on a separate plane than us, that's why we have to summon them. So, in theory, a city in the sky is not so farfetched." mused Virginia, pushing a strand of hair from her face. Gallows blinked over to his leader and absently scratched the side of his neck.

"You were really into that story, weren't you?" he smiled, dropping his hand down his and popping his neck from side to side.

"Yeah, it is a rather interesting story, Gallows. I can only imagine what kind of things we would find there… I mean, there would be a lifetime of knowledge and memories. Jet can yell at me if he wants, but I believe that memories make up a great deal of the world we know.

"So what makes up the other half that we don't?" mused Gallows to no one in particular. Jet was about to pounce Virginia's sentence when he heard Gallows' wayward question.

"I'm sorry, Gallows, did you say something intelligent just now?" sniffed Jet, tilting his head to the side and giving Gallows an almost brotherly grin. Gallows rubbed his smiling lips and shook his head slowly from side to side.

"No, Jet, that's your imagination. You've got a couple of screws loose. To the scrap heap with you!" bellowed Gallows playfully, slinging his arm dramatically to the side.

Jet grunted, rolled his eyes, and kicked a rock at Gallows, who barely dodged it.

"If anyone is scrap heap material, it's you, Gallows. I, at least, am not a womanizing drunk."

Gallows took in a deep, almost condescending, breath and dropped the subject before it went beyond playful bantering.

Jet, sensing what Gallows felt, also fell silent. The silence lasted all of five minutes. The group had started walking again before Virginia broke the silence with her quiet voice.

"Hey, Jet, did you feel uneasy tonight at all?" inquired Virginia, coming to a stop and hoping that the young android, who was several feet in front of her, would come to a stop as well.

"The only thing I felt was annoyance when you woke me up…" muttered Jet, not missing a step. Gallows quickened his pace, picked up a rock, and threw it as hard as he could at Jet's foot. It didn't miss and Jet nearly tripped over the rock and his own two feet.

"W-what the _hell_?" spat Jet, straightening himself and stopping to glare back at his companions.

"First off, you should stop being rude. Secondly, this is something that's important to our leader, hence, important to us. Finally, if you want to be an asshole do it on someone else's time. I really have had it up to here with your constant attitude!" sniped Gallows, swinging his arm to his side and glaring down at Jet. Jet growled under his breath and was about to turn around when Gallows reached down for another rock.

"Gallows! Stop acting like a child!" barked Virginia, causing Gallows to drop the rock and give her a puzzled look.

"B-but I…" he started, only to fall silent when Virginia stepped up to him and looked up at him with both respect and frustration.

"I really appreciate you taking up for me, that's really chivalrous of you. But, Gallows, you really have to stop acting out of impulse. One of these days you're going to do something that you can't take back…"

Gallows looked away from his leader and said nothing.

"Gallows?.." asked Virginia after a couple of heated seconds of silence.

"Fine, I'll stop doing what I believe in. That's just great." shrugged Gallows, still looking away from Virginia and at the pale moon. Virginia, at a lost for words, took a couple of steps back and gave him one more confused look before looking back toward Jet.

"You, Jet, need to stop being so rude. Some people actually _care _about what you say. I guess that really has never occurred to you, has it.?" She asked in a rather flat tone of voice. For once, Jet didn't have a biting retort to that. Instead, he blinked stupidly and then started to walk again. Clive sighed and followed in silence, waiting for the right moment to step in.

"… What's happening to us?" whispered Gallows, starting to shuffle up behind Clive. Virginia, hearing this, started her own troubled walk, not knowing how to respond to that.

"We're just under a lot of stress right now, Gallows, I am sure that things will change once this bounty has been resolved." responded Clive, slowing his pace and matching Gallows' pace, although it was a bit hard. Gallows shrugged and continued to walk, not looking at the sniper nor looking at the people in front of him but, rather, some where beyond both. Virginia had fallen behind Jet but not behind Gallows and Clive, she could hear every word they said. Their words stung her deep and crippled her mind with apprehensions that could not be remedied with kind words.

"It's my fault." sighed Virginia, stopping, causing Gallows and Clive, who were both in ear shot, to stop and walk up to her.

"No, Virginia, it's not your fault and I don't want to hear you say that again." riposted Clive in a very stern voice. Virginia frowned up at him but said nothing. Her eyes, however, gave it all away.

_It is my fault and you know it. _Said her glimmering, blue, orbs.

"I just can't see how you could say something like that, leader. After all, you're the one holding us together. Right?" he asked, patting on her on the shoulder as comfortingly as he could. Virginia, of course, was not going to give in so easy.

"No, it is my fault. I'm the one that got us into this mess…" She looked forward, a look of determination replacing that of inner turmoil. "And I will get us out of it."

"Get us out of what? We're following you because we _believe _in you, Virginia, not because we _have _to. You act as if you're dragging us around by our noses and demanding we stay. Last time I checked, I was here because I… Never mind, I'm going to shut up now before…" Gallows tapered off only to have Jet walk up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, damn near making him jump out of his skin.

"Before you say something stupid? Believe it or not, Gallows, what you just said summed up how I felt. I've never been one with words, you all know that. But, I've felt many things with all of you. I can't say that I love you all, but I can say that I can't imagine life with all of you. Virginia, if you make yourself out to be weak again I'm going to call you an "idiot" and leave. I'm not joking either, I can't stand a weak person…" sulked Jet, pulling a chunk of scarf over his trembling lips.

_Why can't I actually say something nice to her? Why? Why must I be such a jerk? I know it in my heart but the words just come out all wrong!.._

Virginia's lower lip trembled and then she threw one arm Jet and the other one around Gallows.

"You all… Are so sweet." Clive walked up his embracing comrades and wrapped his arms around them, forming the bond that they all knew they possessed. From the sable sky, a silver patch of moonlight fell from the sky and landed tranquilly at their feet. Virginia, noticing the peculiar patch of light, stepped away from the huddle and looked down at it.

"Huh? What's wrong, did I do something stu-.. Wait a minute, that wasn't there before." observed Gallows, looking down at the pale, moon lit, path. Virginia nodded and plaintively tapped her foot on the lit ground, letting out a cry of surprise when her foot hovered several feet above it, resting on the moon light. Gallows walked up beside her, grabbed her by her shoulders, and backed her away. Virginia looked up at him with both exasperation and confusion.

"I think it's a good idea to let the heaviest person check on this kind of thing." He said simply, letting go of her shoulders and placing his foot where hers used to be. He tilted his head to the side and scooted his foot up a bit on the lit path, it held firm. Taking a deep breath, he put his other foot on the path and slid his leading foot forward, expecting to fall through at any moment. However, that moment never came and the tightness in his chest eased up a bit. He scooted up a couple of more feet and paused yet again, looking down at his teammates who were now a good fifteen feet away.

_It surprises me that I covered so much ground. Sometimes it's good being tall. _He smiled, now walking confidently upward.

Virginia watched from the ground with a frown on her face. She knew that, if Gallows fell, she couldn't save him.

_I'd fail as a leader and a friend. _

Clive walked up beside her and put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry, Virginia, he can take care of himself. You need not worry about him." he whispered into her ear, causing her to smile a bit.

"Yeah, he's a big guy after all."

_Which is _exactly _why I'm worried about him, Gallows, why do you always have to be so… curious?_

Once again, a frown crossed her face as she watched Gallows walk up to around the forty-foot mark.

"Man, I knew he was a giant, but he's covering more ground than I expected him to." whistled Jet, not bothering to hide the fact that he was impressed.

Halfway up, Gallows stopped and waved down to his team mates, extracting several relieved and annoyed sighs. He stopped waving and scratched his head, wondering why Virginia and Jet were irritated as well. He was just about to yell down at them to find out when a haunting, lilting, melody reached his ears. He turned his head toward the sky and toward the melody, nearly losing his balance and tumbling off the path. He pin-wheeled his arms in order to regain his balanced, causing Virginia to cry out in alarm. He repurchased his footing and waved back down at his friends sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, I just… "He was just about to yell down the rest of his apology when he heard the song again. It was a song of both joy and immense sorrow. Both a dirge and a reveille rolled into one, sweet, wind filled melody. He looked back up, making sure to establish proper footing before he did so.

_**If I am to fall, then let me fall with the wind's whistling melody in my ears…**_

"Hello?" he asked, uncertainty straining his voice as he unconsciously took several more steps forward.

_**If I am to descend, then let the flames be inviting and warm. **_

He shuddered and stopped. That didn't sound right. It was then the melody turned into a cacophony of shrills and shrieks.

He covered his ears and took several steps back, looking up at the sky, which had now turned into an inky black and blue vortex.

A hard tugging at his duster and his hair interrupted the rest of his sentence. He uncovered his ears and watched as strands of his hair flew in chunks toward the vortex.

Thinking quickly, he dropped down to his knees and pressed the inside of his arms toward his face, hence covering his ears in the process. He couldn't move out of fear of being thrown from the narrow path.

_**Rise, my child, and behold the city in the sky.**_

The wind died down gradually and was replaced the sound of humming and the soft, ever droning, cheep of the crickets below. He slowly rose, dusted his shaking, sweating, hands on his pants, and took in a deep breath.

_I don't know what to tell my friends. I don't want them to be in danger but…_

The rest of his thought faded as his flesh faded to moonlight and then shattered into the stars.

_**Fear not, this is but one color of existence… Open your eyes. There's nothing to fear but fear itself.**_

Virginia shoved off her companion's reaching hands as they tried to stop her from ascending the path__ Jet huffed in exasperation and followed up close behind her. Clive, gathering his weapon and his equipment, followed them both with fear and worry in his glittering eyes.

_I shouldn't be so brash, but… Damn it, if I don't DO something I won't be able to live with myself. _

Time seemed to slow down as she sped up the slightly inclined slope, her breath coming in pained, scared, gasps, her heart beating like an angry hornet against her chest.

_Half way up…Don't die._

Just as she was about to reach the point of Gallows' disappearance she stopped and looked up in awe. For, above her, lie a city made of clear, unflawed, crystals. A waterfall of gold tumbled down a fountain in the middle of a gilded square. Up above sat a woman with a dove in one hand and a severed head in the other. Virginia blinked and fell back, only to be caught by the young android that had suddenly appeared behind her.

He, too, was startled by what he saw, but he couldn't very well let Virginia fall.

_Gallows wouldn't forgive me if I did that, anyway._ He thought, not bothering tying to find better words to sum up how he felt.

"Idiot! Where do you get the idea that…" his sentence was truncated when he was touching nothing. Virginia, too, had faded into moonbeams and exploded into the stars. He looked at his hands stupidly as he held them in front of his face.

_Everything I touch…_

"Jet, are you okay?" came Clive's voice from behind him. Jet nodded, a numb look of fear crossing his face.

"Jet, listen to me, you and I are going to suffer the same fate. Let us hope that we will all meet ag-" his sentence soon flowed to the floating moon specks as their dance reflected in his glasses. Clive smiled sadly and closed his eyes, soon joining his friends in the sea of stars.


	3. Tres

_**Trës**_

Jet slowly opened his eyes and sat up from the cold, clear, floor he was laying on. He started when several sets of violet eyes stared vapidly back at him. It took him a moment to realize that they were nothing more than his reflection. He stood up and looked around nervously. The light making the reflections possible was coming from the crystals themselves. Had he not been scared, he would've been wondering how much a hunk of one of those crystals would sell for on the black market. He walked over to one of the walls and stroked its smooth, cool surface.

_I wonder, do I feel cold like this too? _He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek against the cool, glimmering, crystal. Moments passed and Jet could not find the gumption to move from his spot.

_I'm reminded that I'm alive when I'm pressed against this. It's odd, it feels both solid but I keep getting the feeling that it could very quickly turn into a thick, comforting, liquid. Was I born like that? _

"..Like a dream?" He murmured, slowly pulling away from the wall and looking around, assessing his situation a bit more closely.

There were no exits, and, hence, no entrances. How he gotten there was a complete mystery to him and he was afraid

_If I don't get out of here, I'll die… _

that if he didn't find a way out soon, he would be fated to stay there. He slowly walked around the room and knocked on random parts of the wall, hoping that one of them would budge revealing an exit out of this crystalline prison.

_Strange, you'd think that I'd be in paradise here. But, all I feel is alone. I want to be with somebody, anybody…_

None of the walls budged so he walked back into the middle of the room and sat down, glancing up at the stalactite like ceiling.

_What if the ceiling were to fall down on me right now..?_

A trick in the light made the glimmering point seem a bit closer.

_No.._

He closed his eyes and then slowly opened them again, much to his relief, the ceiling stayed at its original spot.

_Cool it, Jet; the ceiling ain't going to fall down on you…_

His thoughts were slashed with a cold cut of fear as he heard something in the corner of the room screech. He quickly rose to his feet and reached for his weapon, only to discover that it wasn't there.

_No.. No, no, NO! _

The screech did not falter but instead got louder. Jet stared wide-eyed at his now fractured reflection; the screeching had caused several miniscule fractures to streak across the walls and ceiling. He was no longer safe and he knew it.

_Why? Damn it, why! _

The floor started to crack and he backed away cautiously as the crack chased him menacingly.

He was just about to scream when the room went dark and he was thrown into the meaningless abyss once again.

"It… fair..! …ound… irst!" came a cracked, distant, voice in the back of the young android's head. He once again opened his eyes, and, instead of coming to in a crystal prison, he was greeted by the sight of luscious, green, grass and brilliant blue skies. After a moment or two of deliberating, he sat up and rubbed his eyes in response to the bright sunlight.

He heard laughter and then a series of catcalls. He was quite sure that there were several kids in the vicinity. He pulled himself to his feet and looked around, his clear eyes absorbing the multitude of colors and light. He was just about to take a step forward when a soft, fuzzy, ball smacked him upside the head. He turned around, irritation now slowly creeping into his pale, soft, features.

"Hey, sorry about that mister!" Squeaked a voice from a little below the other side of the hill. The voice was soon given a face as a boy of around ten years old crested the hill; his long, blond, hair streaking brilliantly behind him like another ray of sunlight. Jet blinked, the boy seemed strangely familiar.

"Can you give me back my ball?" wheezed the young boy, coming to a sliding stop in front of Jet and holding out his small, lean, hand. Jet blinked and handed him the ball that he had caught after it had rebounded off his head.

The little boy smiled and wrapped his hand around the ball as he reached out his other, still shaking, hand toward Jet.

"What's your name, mister?" smiled the little boy sweetly, his hand starting to steady a bit.

"M-my name? It's, um…" Jet's eyes darted nervously back and forth. Should he tell the child?

_Will it cause some type of horrible reaction?_

"Don't be shy, mister, I'll tell you my name if you want. It's Shane, Shane Caradine.

The answer caused Jet's legs to buckle and he fell down on his rear with a soft thud.

'W-what!" blinked Jet, looking up at the younger version of Shane.

"My name, it's Shane, now you have to tell me yours. It's only fair, after all." smiled the young boy, offering his little hand to the android. Jet glared off the offering hand and stood up on his own.

"My name is Adam, Adam Kadmon…" huffed Jet, looking down at the boy with hooded eyes. Shane backed up a bit and tilted his head to the side skeptically.

"Are you one of them, Adam? Are you one of the "Hopes"?"

Jet blinked to this question, not sure as to how he should answer.

"A-a hope? I don't know if I'd be called hope but…" Shane cut off the rest of his sentence by grabbing his hand, straightening his own head, and closing his eyes, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Your past is intertwined with the future. From the past, you saw the future and from the future, you reflected on the past. You are, in your essence, a hope for the planet. A song sung out of fear and hope, intertwined. You may not know this, but I know you in another plane. You're known as "Jet" there and you're acquaintances with…" Shane slowly opened his eyes, a frown of concentration on his face.

"Gallows?" finished Jet, slowly taking his hand from Shane's, a look of shock embedded in his semi-dilated eyes. Shane once again closed his eyes and shook his head. "Yes, Gallows, he is here right now but he's not with me. His mind rests somewhere else.

"But why are _you _here, Shane? You're not dead, are you?" asked Jet, adding the last part after a second of hesitation. Shane laughed to this and shook his head slowly from side to side.

"No, I am not dead. I am simply the past. You see, every second that passes ends up in the great stream of time and is put where it needs to be. Simply put, I am but a memory engrained into the sentience of the planet. The reason you can talk to and interact with me is that you, yourself, are linked to the planet directly. Every breath you take corresponds with the movement of the planet. Little by little, the planet spins, and, at the same time, your heart beats. My brother may not know it yet, but he is destined to do great things. However, his lot in life does not compare to yours. May I show you something?" Concluded Shane, dropping his hands to his side and giving Jet a kind smile.

"Umm, sure…" quipped Jet, watching as the young man did an about face and headed back toward the hill. Jet reluctantly followed, carefully watching the young boy's moves.

_If something bad were to happen, chances are he would be the one to start it. I don't think he means me any harm but still…_

"Hey, this way, we're almost there!" shouted Shane, indicating the direction he wanted to go with a grand sweep of his arm to the left.

"Where're we going, exactly?" inquired Jet, now a couple of paces behind the now running boy.

"It's a cave that my brother and I found before you came." smiled Shane, looking back at Jet with a grin on his face.

"But, wait a minute, didn't you just say that your brother is not here with you right now?" asked Jet, his mind spinning out empty thoughts like a spinning wheel without thread.

The young man laughed as they came up to a mountain with a small opening in one of its gaping crevices.

"I'm sorry, I meant the Gallows you know. I was told by some strange woman that I should be expecting a visitor so I left Gallows behind to guard our treasure." smiled Shane, ducking down and entering the cave. Jet followed suit and soon they were standing in a spacious, damp, cavern. The air smelled musty and was tinged with the chalky smell of limestone.

"Hey Shane, did you..?" came a voice from the dark recesses of the cave. Jet squinted a bit and watched as one of the shadows began to walk toward him and Shane. For some reason, Jet felt rather protective of Shane and took step in front of him, taking in a deep breath as he did so.

"Did I bring Jet? Yeah, I did, he was there just as the lady said he would be." smiled Shane, waving a bit to the shifting shadows that was supposedly Gallows. Soon, the shadows parted and a lean, young, man stepped into Jet's line of sight. His eyes were still bright blue and the streak in his hair had just stared to form. His hair was, at present, shoulder length and pulled back in a leather tie.

Jet looked over the younger version of his comrade with surprise. His muscle tone, while not as defined as it was as an adult, was still impressive and various scars spoke of many adventures and scuffles.

"That's great, little brother." smiled Gallows, walking up to Shane and putting a strong hand on top of his brother's head. Gallows bowed his head apologetically and tousled his younger brother's hair.

"You must excuse my lil' brother. He's a bit too smart for his britches sometimes." smiled Gallows, lifting his head and locking eyes with Jet.

"Hey, I'm not the one too big for my britches, you are, brother." laughed Shane, pulling away from his elder brother's tousling and punching him lightly on the arm. Gallows shook his head lightly and put his little brother in a loose headlock. Shane squealed with delight and tried to pull away, kicking lightly at Gallows knees and shins.

"Ack! My little brother is abusing me!" whimpered Gallows playfully, releasing Shane from the headlock. Jet couldn't help but smile to this scene and he tried to hide it by burying the lower part of his face into his scarves.

"Hey, Jet, you wanna play with us?" laughed Shane, walking over to Jet and handing him the small ball that he had been hit with earlier. Jet, after a few seconds of pondering, accepted the ball and lifted his smiling face from the scarves.

"Sure, how do you play this silly game?" asked Jet, looking down at the ball for a moment or two and then looking up at the two brothers.

"Well, basically, it's a one sided game. We try to get the ball from Gallows. I know it may sound stupid but it takes quite a bit of strategy to bring him down." laughed Shane, looking affectionately up at his brother.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I fit the bill of "Big Brother" so well! I have you know that I don't try too hard when evading you! You're _slow!" _laughed Gallows, poking Shane lightly on the arm.

"Slow, is he? Well, Gallows, let's just see how well you do against me!" laughed Jet, throwing the ball at Gallows who caught it easily.

"Ready?" asked Gallows, jogging in place excitedly. Jet nodded and rushed him. Gallows barely dodged Jet's outstretched hands and was about to back- peddle when he tripped over Shane's conveniently outstretched foot.

Gallows let out a whimper of surprise as he fell down on his rump and dropped the ball as he fell. As Jet watched the ball fall, he noted that the ball now had a small dust storm swirling around it. Gallows was about to stand when the ball flashed blue and caused him to fall back with surprise.

"The world… is changing." whispered Shane, as the ball hit the ground soundlessly and continued to glow a simple, tranquil, blue. Jet stumbled forward and dropped to his knees beside the ball, watching as the blue tinged sand storm formed shades from the past. One moment it was that of a smiling Virginia as she looked up at him while yet another was that of an elderly man looking upon him with tender eyes and a crinkled smile.

_Elliot?.._

Jet reached a trembling hand toward the ball and stroked the face lovingly…

"Papa…".. He whispered, cringing a bit as the visage faded and was replaced by the mocking sneer of Beatrice.

_Why did you do it? Why did you destroy what little family I had left? Why could I not have been real? _

A firm hand on his shoulder broke his tattered thoughts. He tilted his head to look at the owner of the hand. Instead of seeing a younger Shane or Gallows, he found himself looking at Elliot's kind face.

"Oh, my dear Adam, why do you lament over not being human? Being human only leads one down the path of weakness, pain, and sorrow. Sure, we have our moments of joy, but, ultimately, we meet our demise at the hands of the reaper known as "Time". You swear off affection because it makes you jealous. It makes you feel inferior because you think yourself below that of a human. But, let me tell you something, you are at the very least, on par with humans, if not a bit superior. Stop pushing away those that love you and open your eyes to…" he pointed down to the ball and smiled. His teammates smiled warmly up at him and waved for him to come forward. "What you have. This is not the time to move backwards into despair, it is the time to move forward to the brightness of a heavenly tomorrow. Heaven and Hell are all relative to desire and despair. Keep that in mind, my dear son." And, with that, Elliot faded into the darkness, leaving a teary-eyed Jet gazing at the fading, blue, ball.

"This is my time… but, where do I start? Where? He said to…" murmured Jet, slowly standing up, picking up the now normal ball as he did so.

"Spreading your wings is a start, my friend." came Shane's adult voice from behind him. Jet slowly turned around, the darkness blurring and dancing waveringly before him. There was nothing there but darkness and the smell of dust stirred by the faded shades.

"So, am I all alone?" he asked, looking down at the ball, which was now starting to crumble into dust.

"You're never alone so long as someone believes in and loves you." came Shane's younger voice.

"Does it all… crumble?" whispered Jet as the dust sifted through his outstretched fingers.

"Only if you let it. Wizen up, my friend, there is much more to life than loneliness and regret. You were brought here to make a choice; a choice of whether or not to remain in the past, which is gilded by false glory, or to reclaim your life and move forward with what you have. Ultimately, it is your choice to make; I cannot make it for you." Spoke the older voice of Shane once again.

"But why you? Why did you appear? Why was it not Virginia or Werner?"

The older and younger voices of Shane laughed in unison.

"We've a bit more in common than you think, my friend." said they, their voices blending in perfect unison.

"How's that? I don't recall talking to you very much." quipped Jet, pushing a strand of silver hair behind his ear.

"We both are unsure of who we are. Sure, we are given a purpose in life but we're not sure if that purpose is of our own volition or something that's just shoved upon us by fate. You shoulder the past with quaking shoulders just as I shoulder the future, shaking, upon mine. Jet, if we continue to be uncertain, then we, too, will be controlled by the hands of uncertainty. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to lean on those that lend you a shoulder when you're weary. Open your eyes, now, Jet, and face the future with new eyes and a true heart. That is all I can really tell you." Concluded Shane, his voices starting to untwine and fade. Jet shook his head and sank back to his knees, his legs no longer able to support his shaking body.

_Whose fate is this? Is it mine, or is it something Filgaia dreamed up years ago… _

He closed his eyes, the years of suppressed sorrow spilling down his face as the cave swayed and then crumbled into itself. He was all in the midst of nothing. A speck in the middle of infinity, and it was up to him to decide which path he would take.


	4. Quattuor

-1**_Quattuor_**

_Unbeknownst to us lays a deeper meaning of infinity. _

She slowly opened her eyes to the light of the sun filtering through the dense mass of swaying trees. With a groan of effort, she sat up and looked around. To her left stood a bird with tattered wings but determined eyes, it scuttled along the ground, flittering its broken wings in an effort to fly. Her heart reached out toward it as her hands pressed against the deep, green, grass. The bird scuttled forward, flapped its wings, lifted off the ground a bit, and then came crashing back down toward the earth after ascending a few centimeters into the air. Virginia stood up and slowly walked toward the bird, whom, surprisingly did not attempt to run away. She stooped down and stretched her hand out toward it. It blinked at her curiously and then, after pondering for a couple of seconds, hopped forward and nuzzled her hand with a hint of confusion. Smiling, she reached out the other hand and stroked its soft, small, head. It chirped happily and looked up at her, its eyes twinkling with amity.

"Are you here all alone, too?" she asked as it hopped into her hand and jumped up and down as if trying to tell her its answer. She frowned a bit and tilted her head to the side, frustrated at herself for not understanding what it was trying to say.

_**I'm stranded here but I am happy.**_It seemed to say as it ceased its hopping and looked up at her tranquilly.

_But how can I understand you? _

_**We are both connected by circumstance. You are trapped by apprehension and sorrow and I am trapped by the same. My apprehension comes from not being able to fly in a literal sense while your apprehension comes from not being able to fly in a figurative sense. In so saying, our sorrow comes from the apprehension of not being able to fly. After all, what good are wings if one cannot fly beyond these earthly pains? That is why you drift, isn't it; to get away from all of your sorrows and to find a new path that leads not back but forward? **_

Virginia was it at a lost for words, this bird, a small speck on the great planet of Filgaia, had spoken what she found so hard to voice.

"Yes, but how did you know that?" asked Virginia, watching as the little bird hopped from her hand and settled onto the grass. Slowly the feathers on the bird started to molt and to fly away, circling up in mysterious cyclone that only affected the direct area around the bird. The feathers shattered once they reached a certain point and then sprinkled in a silver shower on the now naked bird. Virginia sat back in awe as the bird started to glimmer and grow in size, its wings folding up around its head and then bursting out in a strong, proud, gust of silver feathers and warm breeze. She closed her eyes as the brilliance reached its pinnacle and covered her face with a trembling arm, waiting for the warmth of the glow to die down a bit.

"**I know because I am you but in a different form. We all have forms that are unknown to us. Why do you think that you find yourself longing to be up in the sky? It is not because you are insane or because you're odd. You truly are a bird, a bird that longs for freedom and righteousness. Open your eyes, Virginia, look at what you are.**" came a slightly older version of her own voice. Virginia opened her eyes and watched as a silver bird, the size of a dragon, looked down at her, its glimmering white feathers shifting with the sunlight as it danced through the trees.

"You're?…" rasped Virginia slowly bringing herself to her feet to stand in front of the majestic bird. The bird's wings flapped with amusement as it tilted its head to the side and chirped a couple of times cheerfully.

"_**I've been waiting for you, my dear, it has been awhile hasn't it?" **_asked the bird in its gentle voice. Virginia, at a lost for words simply nodded her head and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"_**You don't know who I am, do you? Heh, it does not really surprise me, after all, you haven't heard my voice since you were small." **_chuckled the bird longingly. It was then that reality hit Virginia like a ton of bricks and she gasped as she took a couple of steps toward the bird.

"Mother!" she whimpered, now just a couple of feet from the bird, and looking up in awe at the majestic beauty that stood before her.

"Aha ha ha. Well, I guess you could call me that. I am, in reality, a projection of memory, altered by the depths of your heart and soul. You see freedom, beauty, and mystery in a bird that is free from earthly fixation; hence, you see me as a majestic bird. But enough of that, I am here to convey a message to you." stated the bird, lowering both her voice and her body and locking eyes with her daughter. It was then Virginia noticed that the bird's eyes were the color of a distant sea sprinkled by the moonlight and, for some reason, this comforted her.

_But you're just a memory, something I created from my mind, how could you _possibly _tell me something I don't already know..?_

_"**My dear daughter, memories need not always refer to the past, for memories can give hints to the future as well. You see, memories can transcend time and space; for instance, the memory you're making right this second hangs on the brink of both future and past. Do you understand now?"**_

"I see, but, how is that you can read my mind?" inquired Virginia, although she was sure that she knew the answer.

_She's part of my mind so of _course _she can read it. _

"**_Very astute my dear, you never cease to amaze me with your intelligence. Regardless, now is the time to relay my message. You so often question why you were created only to be alone in this world, right?" _**flitted her mother's voice to roaring ears. Virginia, at a lost for words, once again simply nodded and bowed her head in almost a shameful manner.

"_**You were created to learn and grow from what knowledge you obtain. Sometimes I feel as if you refuse to move forward out of fear of losing the memories you hold so dear to your heart, but I am here to tell you not to fear. We will always be here, your father and I, we may not live in the flesh but we do live in your heart. I hear you tell your friends that you want to be strong and carry on for a brighter tomorrow but how can you do that when your heart aches to replay the past? Virginia, you must move on and realize that we no longer affect who or what you become, you must decide that on your own."**_

"B-but, I… you… I _have _moved on, mommy, I really have! Just look at what we've accomplished!" spoke Virginia in a proud voice, her eyes watering a bit as she remembered all that she and her friends had went through. Ekatrina once again chuckled and rested a wing lightly on Virginia's head, sending a wave of warmth, love, and nostalgia through Virginia's world-weary body.

"_**My dear child, I've no doubt that you've accomplished much, that, actually was never a concern of mine. What **_**is ****_a concern of mine is that my beloved daughter is so torn up by past circumstances that she cannot move forward and obtain what is rightfully hers. Have you ever wondered why you lay asleep at night replaying the past mistakes over in over in your head?" _**inquired Virginia's mother, her voice low, loving, and kind. Virginia felt as the first warm tear spilled down her cheek and splashed lazily on her now outstretched hand.

"I always thought that it was because everything was my fault and those thoughts were punishment for being such a horrid leader." she whimpered; bring her hand up to wipe the tear from her eye. Her mother said nothing but instead lowered herself down further and pulled Virginia to her mighty breast with one gentle wing, lower her beak so that it rest lightly on her daughter's head.

"_**Oh my dear, sweet, child, you're not a horrid leader nor are you a horrid person. The turn of events that have unfolded before all of you are by no means your fault. They are the product of circumstance and fate intertwined into a bramble of pain and sorrow. No, the reason why you play those thoughts repeatedly in your head is that you simply can't let go of the past out of fear that you may not learn from your mistakes. Sometimes the best way to learn from pain is to let it go, that way you can discover the beauty of joy produced by its polar opposite. See?" **_

Virginia's tears stopped as soon as they had begun and she slowly pulled away from her mother's breast with a smile on her pretty face.

"I see, mommy, I really do! I guess I need to learn from my past and then let it die, right?" asked Virginia excitedly, her eyes now watering with pride. Her mother nodded her head and the rose to her full height again.

"_**That's right… Now, about you getting a boyfriend." **_chuckled her mother, inwardly smiling as her daughter's face flushed red.

"Uh, what about one?" she asked, her eyes darting side to side before looking sheepishly at the ground.

"_**You want one, right?" **_

"Do I really have to answer that?" mumbled Virginia, her lips twisted to her side and her right eye twitching a bit. Ekatrina laughed a bit and nodded her great head.

"_**Of course you do, you have plenty of choices." **_

"B-but, I'm too young to think about that kind of thing…," whined Virginia, not really wanting to admit that she was attracted to several suitors already.

**_"Is that so? Well, once you decide, would you mind telling me who you choose?" _**Ekatrina chuckled as she started to shrink back to a normal bird size. Virginia smiled as she looked down at her now small mother.

"Sure, but only if you promise _not _to tell anyone.." she laughed, squatting down in front of her mother, smoothing her dress around her knees and offering her hand for Ekatrina to perch on.

Her mother concurred and sat on her daughter's hand, gently scraping her talons against Virginia's hand playfully.

"_**I suppose so. Are you sure I can't tell Werner that his little girl has found a man?" **_

Virginia once again blushed, opened her mouth as if to say something, and then shut it again.

"_**No, you don't have to answer that because I'm pretty sure Werner would find out eventually anyway. You know that he's watching us right now, don't you? He's probably laughing his behind off at all of this "girl talk" as he used to call it. Werner was always the type to back off when it was time for that kind of thing. Remember that time when I told you about the bir-" **_

"M-mother! Now's _not _the time to bring that up!" sniffed Virginia, her face now a deep crimson. Her mother laughed and then spread her wings, flapping them a couple of times, producing a warm down draft on Virginia's out stretched hand.

**_"Okay, I'll let it go this time. But, there's one more thing I want to tell you before we part ways for awhile."_**

"What's that, mommy?" asked Virginia, the blush fading quickly from her face and her eyes gleaming with seriousness.

"_**You're never alone. We are always right beside you, riding the currents of the wind, perching in trees, or just watching you through the eastern window. Always remember that, okay?" **_she chirped, flapping her wings and lifting off her daughter's hand with ease. Virginia nodded and watched as her mother flew off into the fading sunset.

Virginia slowly rose to her feet and lifted her head to the now fading sky, her heart gliding alongside her mother's wings. The fading clouds zipped by her head as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to fly up above this one line of infinity, now sure of that she could face anything so long as she believed in herself and her abilities.

_Nothing can stop me from protecting those that need protecting! I've severed the chains of apprehension that have bounded me for so long, now is the time to embrace the future, teach the errors of the past to the winds of forgetfulness, and move on to seek things beyond what is shown to me. I'll never be anyone else's fool, nor will I be a fool to myself. Now is the time to fly not fall, now is the time to be free!_

Virginia slowly opened her eyes to find herself in _her_ darkened room filled with toys from her past along with rusted guns and a sash from Lamium's robe.

_Never again…_

Virginia picked up a doll, held it for a moment to her chest, absorbing all of the good memories she associated with it.

_Crying alone… No one there… NO! NEVER AGAIN!_

She threw it to the ground and caught it on fire with one of her tinder crest.

She sifted her gaze to a frilly diary and walked over to it, her heart beating loudly in her chest.

_All that pain… All the nights I waited for daddy to come home… Go away. _

She picked it up, with a cry of anguish, ripped it in half, and threw it to the ground too.

_You'll never remind me of all of the nights I cried. The days of pointless tears are gone. Today is a new day…_

She threw another tinder crest at the diary and watched with a smile as the flames ate away at the pages with a black tongue.

A glint on the bed caught her attention and she made her way over to it, punching a rocking horse's head off as she did so.

_No more lying my tear soaked face against its shaggy head and wailing daddy's name. No more, it ends now._

The glint she saw was her father's guns now rusted with time and dirty from lack of proper cleaning.

_Sorry daddy, but nothing is forever. _She picked up both of the guns, listening as they clapped together with an empty clang with a certain degree of cold fear and sorrow.

_I'm throwing away part of my father… I'll forget…_

With a hiss, she threw both of the guns out the window listening with satisfaction as the crashed into the shrubbery down below.

_Nothing's forever and that's okay. The only thing that is forever is my love for my parents, not their possessions. I will never forget this… _The last thing that caught her eye was Lamium's sash, its crumpled, green, material causing her heart to leap into her throat.

_No, that's not my fault either. I'm sorry Lamium… _She swooped down, grasped the sash tightly in her hand, held it to her chest for a moment or two, tears welling up in her eyes again for a second or two before she threw it too to the ground and set it on fire.

_I will not apologize for something that's not my fault. _

She calmly walked out the door that led to her balcony and stepped out onto the veranda, looking down and catching sight of her friends, whom were all looking up at her with a reassuring smile on their faces.

"Hey, Virginia, are you going to spend all day up there or what? We need to get going and earn ourselves a living you know!" huffed Jet, although there was still a warm smile on his face.

"Ah, Virginia, don't listen to the part of the punk's sentence about money making, he just wants to see your pretty, smiling, face just as much as Clive and I do" laughed Gallows, wrapping one arm playfully around Jet's shoulder and waving up at her cheerfully. Clive simply laughed and smiled up at Virginia paternally, closing his eyes with merriment and being shoved to the side when Jet stumbled against him in an attempt to get away from Gallows' pawing.

_These people… no, my friends, are my future now. It's my job to take care of them and keep them safe. _

"Okay guys, I'm on my way down, just wait a sec!" With that, she walked back into her room, gave its burned remains one more look, and then walked downstairs to her friend's embraces and jokes.

_I am home now… _


	5. Quïnque

-1**_Quïnque_**

_So often, we take for granted the aspects of life we have control over. However, what happens when those aspects slip out from our shaking grasp? Do we weep, do we try desperately to claw our way up the hierarchy of life to the rung of "control"?_

Clive slowly opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling of his house.

_Wait a moment, what am I doing at home? Did someone bring me here? _

He shifted his head to the left and then to the right, looking around for any signs of his wife or daughter.

"Kaitlyn, honey?" groaned Clive, slowly sitting up and popping his neck with a pained grimace. There was no answer to his beckon. Taking in a deep breath, he slung his legs over the side of the bed and looked down at the hardwood floor.

_Why do I ache so much? Did I sleep wrong? Was it all a dream? _

"_Catherine? Honey, are you there?" _he inquired, standing up and walking toward the mirror, where his reflection looked blankly back at him.

_I look like hell._

He blinked and ran a hand through his already tousled, sleep matted, hair. However, his reflection didn't mimic his actions and he stumbled back with surprise.

"W-what?" he uttered, watching in horror as his reflection stepped out of the mirror and stood stoically on the dresser, not molesting the various trinkets thereupon.

"Why do you look so surprised, it's not like I'm a ghost or anything?" mused the alter-Clive, dropping down to the floor gracefully with nary a sound.

"Y-you may as well be! What is going on? Where are my wife and daughter! If you did something, I swear I'm goin-" he was interrupted by a dismissive wave of the other Clive's hand.

"Relax, I did nothing to your wife and child; after all, they are my wife and child as well. I'm here to talk to you, not to upset you or to disrupt your "happy" life." mused Clive's alter ego, making sure to put a sarcastic emphasis on the word "happy".

"Look..." sighed Clive, removing his glasses and cleaning them with the lapel of his trench coat before placing them back on the bridge of his nose. " I know that the my life is far from happy, I also know that I've been both a poor father to Kaitlyn and, if possible, a worse husband to Catherine; I do not need you to state those painfully obvious facts. "concluded Clive, rubbing the bridge of his nose with irritation and then glaring at his other self with half closed eyes.

"Whoa, hey there, wait a minute! No need to get so huffy and puffy. Really..." sighed the other Clive, tugging at his string tie with a tight-lipped grin. "You're a lot touchier than me, that's for sure."

"What do you want?" asked Clive, opening his eyes all the way and tilting his head to the side inquisitively.

"Ah, see, that's where I reverse the question on you and ask you the self same thing. What do _you _want, Clive Winslett? To leave this mortal coil or to protect those you love from all that could harm them? You can choose only one; sadly enough, a specter does not make a great guard."

"Wait a moment, who said anything about dying, or even considering such a rash choice!" exclaimed Clive, walking toward his duplicate, popping his neck straight, and wringing his hands with anger, his steps becoming more eager and brash. Doppelganger Clive raised both of his hands defensively in front of him, the superior smile slowly melting from his scruffy face.

"Hold it, solider, I've no intention of fighting you. I'm here to help make things clear, in so saying, I am here to help you, not hinder or harm you. Now calm down, stand down, and stop wringing your hands like my neck is between them." mused the other sniper, dropping his hands to his side benevolently and nodding his head for Clive to do the same. Slowly and reluctantly, Clive followed suit and eyed his mirror image cautiously.

"Tell me what you want. My patience is running thin, I want to see my wife and child soon." glared Clive at the other, locking eyes with his reflection and straightening his back in an almost challenging manner.

"Yes, yes, I know all of that. But first, a simple question." offered pseudo-Clive, extending his arm, his palm pointing toward the ceiling.

"And what would that be?" huffed Clive, for some reason unnaturally angry.

"If you could turn back time and be with your wife and kid without having to rely on being a Drifter, would you? Now, think very carefully before you answer that, we have all the time in the world and I am in no big hurry.

_Why did he have to bring that up? Sure, I would have loved to be with Catherine and Kaitlyn every waking moment but... Had I not became a Drifter would the battle against Beatrice concluded in a successful manner. Now that I think about it... the only reason we got through it was that we believed so strongly in one another. _

"I... I do not know. I-I suppose, given the opportunity..." Clive's sentence trailed off with uncertainty, extracting a pleased smile from the other green haired man.

"It is just as I summarized; you are proud of your accomplishments, and, might I add, you should be. However, I feel as if you've lost sight of what you fought for in the first place. Now, be honest with me, and you can be because, as far as I know, we're alone: When you were fighting Beatrice, was surviving running though your head or were Kaitlyn's and Catherine's smiling faces running through it?" inquired the mirrored sniper, leaning against the dresser, a wisp of a smile drifting across his face.

Clive stumbled back and sat down on the bed with a muffled thud.

"I-I do not remember. I remember wanting to get through it all to _see _them again but I don't think I thought of them _during _the battle..." he rested his elbows on his knees and cradled his face in his outstretched hands.

"Now I remember, I was thinking before the battle "I cannot lose, Kaitlyn's smile, Catherine's laughter, my friend's company, they all rely on me." and then we rushed off. I feel somewhat bad that they did not, once, cross my mind in the actual battle."

"Why does that plague you so? You know good and well that, had you lost either your focus or your cool, you would've been decimated along with your teammates. Am I correct in that assumption?" inquired the alternate man, walking over to Clive and putting his hand lightly on Clive's shoulder. Clive looked up at him with confusion rolling in his dark blue eyes.

"To be honest with you, I always thought that I should think about my wife and child over any of my missions, however, so many times they slipped from my mind and I was faced with a mission that held monetary value but little in the way of personal gain. That time I nearly quit the team I thought to myself "Aren't you forgetting why you fight? You almost lost them, does that not scare you." and, in truth, I _was _scared, scared to death. I thought that I had not only lost sight of what was important to me but also lost the _people _I cared so much about. But then..." a weak smile crossed the sniper's darkened face. "Kaitlyn reached out her small hand..." a small tear of pride formed in the crinkle of his eyes and he laughed a bit

" like an angel and set me right. She made me realize that the mission _and _her and Catherine could coincide and work harmoniously toward the ultimate goal. It's surprising how much smarter she is than me." chuckled Clive, removing his elbow from his chin and resting it sheepishly behind his head.

"But, ultimately, didn't you discover what truly mattered?" inquired the other man, sitting down beside him and looking at him intently. Clive nodded and locked eyes with his copy.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, basically," started the other Clive, blinking a couple of times to break the intense gaze. "You've lost sight of things again and I'm here to set you straight instead of Kaitlyn. You see, when you disappeared from Filgaia you came here, Noth'ral, Filgaia's Fylgia, or Filgaia's mirror planet. When things are unresolved in one plane the other plane merges for a while and resolves the said issue by streaming the stream of thoughts branching from the divine mind. So, basically, I am a collection of thoughts, both yours and your loved ones. I'm am the personification of both you and every one else's perception of you... if that makes any sense." Clive let things set in before he spoke again.

"So, basically what you are trying to tell me is that you are me and the perception of me rolled into one. In so saying, you can see things from every point of view and know exactly what's plaguing me, right?" inquired Clive, dropping the elbow that was behind his head back down to his side.

"Well, that's part of it, yes, but, I'm confused too. See, as I said, I share your sentience _and _bits and pieces of the others, the problem, being of course, your problems are my problems too and there's only so much different view points can do before things become even more confusing. So, here's the question plain and simple. Would you give up drifting to spend the rest of your life with Kaitlyn and Catherine in total bliss or would you opt to keep drifting and let the longing build up to its peak before visiting them again and embracing them like there's no tomorrow? You see, it's true, absence makes the heart grow fonder but you have it in your mind that you want to be both present _and _absent and you can't do that, that's why you're so torn. So, ask yourself this Clive Winslett: What is it that will make _you _happy? It may sound selfish but the way of life is this "If you're not happy the others around you will not be happy. You see, it's all about the vibes you generate. True you would be happy staying with your wife and kid but there's something deep inside of you that wants to be free. Which is it Clive? Do you wish to be with your wife and kid and be bound to them? Or do you want to wander and then come back to them only when the longing is the strongest? While the second sounds the easiest, it really is not. Think about it." smiled the Fylgian sniper as he rose to his feet and looked down at his Filgaian counterpart.

"Looking for a shortcut can lead you astray." That's always been my mantra and the more I think about it the more I realize how much I have been deceiving myself. I cannot very well have the best of both worlds and I realize that, in the end, my wife and child matter more to me than my occupation. But, in all honesty, how can I say good-bye to my friends? True they are just my friends and should not matter as much as Catherine and Kaitlyn but still... my life was saved by them numerous times, I cannot just ignore that fact." pondered Clive, looking down at the clean hardwood floor, sighing a bit as he watched a light colored roach scamper across the floor. Fylgian Clive also watched the roach and sighed in an almost condescending manner.

"Nasty things, those roaches."

"Yes, very nasty." agreed Clive, looking at his mirrored version's feet.

"You know, you don't have to _disown _your friends in order to stay with your wife and kid. There's always the option o-"

"Letting them stay with me? Is that what you were going to say?" butted in Clive. Fylgian Clive nodded his head and looked at his counterpart with irritation, trying to figure out what brought about such a rude interruption.

"Yeah, that would be _one _idea...," quipped Fylgian Clive in a slow, cool manner.

"Well, that idea _would _work if we weren't wanted." mourned Clive, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple. Fylgian Clive laughed and kicked Clive's shoe gently.

"There's a saying on Gaia, that is, the planet that _your _planet mirrors, that goes like this: "Hard rains rarely last and every lightening bolt is just a hint of promise to the sun's rebirth.. Or, something to that effect." the mirror image shook his head and continued "Regardless, what it boils down to is this: There is already someone studying that case and, trust me, their evidence will set you all free."

"What?" asked Clive, snapping his head up to look at his doppelganger, dropping the finger that was rubbing his temple down to his lap.

"Her name is Anah Lahn and she's a bright young woman. Her vibe in this world and yours is very strong and she has several facts already laid out on the table that pretty much guarantee your freedom. I mean, it doesn't take a _rocket scientist _to realize that you all are innocent... however; passion blinded by adamant faith can lead a person to do and say things that they normally would not do. " concluded Fylgian Clive, closing his eyes and resting his temple on his outstretched finger, his mouth set in a tired frown.

"Wait a minute, how did Anah find out about all of this? I've never heard of her before." stated Clive, standing up so that he was now looking at the other Clive face to face. The Clive from Fylgia slowly opened his eyes, blinked, and then stumbled back a bit in surprise.

"Whoa! Warn me before you get up in my face like that!" scoffed he, absently sticking his pinky halfway into his ear and rotating it around a couple of times.

"Oh.. sorry." quipped the Clive of Filgaia taking a couple of steps back and giving him an apologetic bow of his head.

"Hey, no problem, I understand that you're excited. As for Anah knowing about your predicament, let's just put it this way; angels don't always have wings and a halo, she may not look it but she is an angel to many... it doesn't hurt that she likes several people on your team and wants to see everybody happy. Also, she's been watching almost all of your missions, hence she knows what kind of people you are and, possibly, what transpired between you all and Beatrice." smiled Fylgian Clive, returning the nod of amity that Clive had presented.

"I see, so, if she's practically _seen _all of our exploits then she must have had some help and a very quick gun to boot. I really see no other way for her to have survive all of our encounters otherwise."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong, my dear brother. You see, first of all, she works alone, for if she worked with others it would take away from her charisma. Oh, and for the record, she prefers twin, serrated, daggers. She can hold her own, trust me.

"So she must be one tough customer, hm?" grinned Clive, slowly walking behind his alter ego, prompting a one eighty from his counterpart.

"She is, but you had best tell that Gallows fellow to watch his step around her. She likes him but she likes Virginia more, so, chances are, if he flirts with Virginia then Anah will see Gallows as competition and act accordingly. I doubt very seriously that Gallows would want to be on the receiving end of one, or both, of her daggers." Clive chuckled to this and shook his head.

"I will keep that in mind, because, chances are, if Anah is pretty then Gallows will surely try his luck to "score" with her as he always says." His alter ego nodded to this and tapped the side of his head with his index finger.

"And he wonders why he can not get a date... With vocabulary like_ that _I suspect that many a woman thought of him as dull."

"Yeah." mused Clive as watched his alter-self walk back toward the mirror whence he came.

"Are you leaving so soon?" inquired Clive, watching as the Fylgian Clive stepped onto the dresser and placed his hand against the mirror. The Fylgian Clive nodded in affirmation and his hand sank through the glass as a body would through water.

"I am afraid so. I must attend to my duties on MY world. Oh, and, I also have to be home in time to read Kaitlyn a bed time story." smiled he, his body halfway through the mirrored portal. Clive's smile widened as he watched the man vanish through the gate...

"Heh. I suppose we two are not so different after all." mused the sniper as he looked around for the exit. However, the doors that normally lead out of the room was missing and the only way out seemed to be the window.

_Very well, then..._

With a smile, he threw a brush through the window and the tranquil outside scene shattered into a void of color mixed with the sounds of the past. But, this, too, was okay for he knew where he was going and where he was coming from. For the first time in his life, Clive Winslett understood his purpose


	6. Six

-1**_Sex_**

_Sunset for one is simply a sunrise for another. So often, we forget that there's more to life than what is on the surface. _

He slowly opened his eyes and shifted them around in their sockets, trying to scope out his surroundings to make sure that things were safe before he made the effort to move.

_I sure as hell don't want to invoke an attack when I'm not even sure that I can move._

His eyes registered no form of life, all that surrounded him were walls made of stone and a checkered floor that lie coldly beneath him.

_What is going? _

He slowly sat up and looked around, his senses tingling with both fear and adrenaline.

_Jet would probably tell me I' m being a wimp. Oh well, not like I care what he says anyway._

The floor below him glimmered tranquilly with an eerie moon colored glow. He looked up and saw nothing but stars and the moon, which was unnaturally close.

_Wait a minute, that's not our moon; Filgaia has two moons, not one. What is going on here? _

"The moon is pretty this night." said a small, lilting, feminine voice behind him. He was about to stand up and turn around to face the voice when a small, pale, hand grasped his right shoulder and held him down with little force.

"Who are you?" inquired Gallows, his fear not yet surfacing above the cool tinge of curiosity he felt.

"I am a star not yet born into the sky, a fetus not yet given a womb to grow in. In other words, I am an unborn, just as you are right now." she concluded, removing her hand from his shoulder and putting it lightly on his head. He blinked but decided not to move from his sitting position.

_I don't want to make her mad. I doubt she's a threat but... it's better safe than sorry._

"But... I've already been born... I was there, in Filgaia, and I was... ali-"

"Alive?" interrupted the young woman. Gallows was shocked into silence and listened as she continued. "You were alive in body, not in spirit. Your worldly soul did not quite connect to the flow of the "spirit stream" that exists in a world parallel to this one. In the other world, as your soul travels down this "stream" of spirit, you acquire the knowledge of each soul you pass; however, because your soul didn't fully connect to the "stream" you wander around aimlessly, empty, and ultimately looking for a love that you can never find."

"I.. is that why I..?" stuttered Gallows, rather unsure what to make of this new bit of information.

_Is she serious? Am I really understanding this right? Who is she? Should I turn around to face her?_

"You do understand what I am saying, right?" came her soft voice from behind him. He closed his eyes, a sign that he was thinking and trying to understand all which she had spoken.

"Okay. My body lives on Filgaia but my soul did not attach properly to the steam of spirits, in so saying, I feel empty because I'm not getting everything that my soul is acquiring from the said "stream"." He opened his eyes and refrained from looking up. "Am I right?"

There was another small chuckled and he heard her footsteps waft slowly toward his left side.

"That's right, I'm happy that you understand. "

"I'm happy I understand too, I've always been accused of being somewhat of a dullard..." mused the young Baskar, a smile of both amusement and bitterness tingeing his face.

"Well, you will no longer be a dullard after tonight. First, I want to ask you a question and I want you to answer it honestly. Do you truly love what you flirt with or do you think with your nether regions and disregard what your heart and mind say?"

Gallows honestly didn't know how to answer that question. True, he had felt _something _for the women he flirted with but he seriously doubted that it was true love.

_More than likely, _he mused with a certain degree of regret and self-loathing, _it was me being horny and not seeing with a clear head. Oh, you've been a stupid one you have, Gallows. _

"No, what I felt was not true love... I hate to say it, but I'm somewhat of a womanizer." he replied quietly, not knowing what else to say.

_What else _is _there to say? Every day that passes is lonely, I feel as if no one will care if I die. My "friends" say that they care, but the way they act sometimes... _

He shook his head quickly back and forth and closed his eyes.

"Well, one could hardly blame you for wanting someone to hold on to. You're only human, you know?" soothed the young woman's voice a ways off to his left.

"That's just it, I don't want to feel lonely but at the same time I don't want a love that'll last just one night and then..." Oh, I'm sorry; this was just a one night thing." I want a love that will last forever... But, all the women around me either find me disgusting, dull, or something else that has no words to describe it." he said, his voice low and melancholy.

"Well, you're not disgusting, dull, or anything like that. You're just disconnected, but, tonight, all of that will change. However, you must have the courage to step forward and start the journey. Are you ready?" asked the young woman, now flanking his left side. Gallows could no longer fight the urge to look at his companion and glanced to his left. His breath caught in his throat as soon as his eyes fell upon the black void of her eyes sockets. She had no eyes, lips, nor nose, but instead had dark indentions where they were supposed to be. He pale hands were china like and reflected the pale moonlight dully. Her body structure was small and waif-like and somewhere, deep in his mind, Gallows questioned her age.

" You're afraid of me, aren't you Gallows?" spoke her saddened voice beneath the faceless mask. Gallows smiled warmly and pushed his surprise away with a warm, compassionate, hand.

"Of course I'm not, if anything, I was a bit surprised." He confessed, resting his hand on the young woman's pale, blond, locks.

_The only form of color she has... such pretty hair._

"I realize that I look a bit odd, which is why I..." she bowed her head and streaks of dull golden hair flowed over her face. Gallows rubbed the top of her head and then knelt down in front of her, prompting her to raise her head and look up at him emptily.

_She has no eyes and yet... she emanates her feelings so well. It's as if we're connected somehow. _

"Hey, I think you look just fine, I mean, you're an unborn, just as I am, so of course we have no real form yet. Besides, you're a sweet heart, so, that automatically makes you a-okay in my book."

The young woman chuckled to this and moved away from his hand, bowing her head a bit as she did so.

"Congratulations, Mr. Caradine, you passed the first part of this test." With that, she vanished, leaving only a necklace and a hair bow behind.

**_If you wish to continue, pick up the two items I left and follow the path that will open to you._**

came her voice from the stars. Gallows looked up to the star-studded heavens for a moment or two and then looked back down at the two items the young lady had left.

_Well, it looks as if I have no other choice in that matter. _

He picked up the two items and waited for something to happen. Fortunately, his wait was curtailed by a ray of light shimmering from the necklace, which lay tranquilly next to the ribbon in his still outstretched hand. The light bounded up toward the glimmering night sky and alighted on the shoulders of the crescent moon. He took in a deep breath and started to walk toward the silver clad path, his knees trembling beneath what now felt like a ton of lead opposed to his body.

_I shouldn't feel nervous..._

He placed his foot gingerly on the path to test its stability. He nodded in approval when he discovered that his foot didn't fall through and touch the parched earth.

_Here we go..._

He trounced up the path as quickly as his jelly like legs would allow, his heart no longer beating out of fear but out of exhilaration and wonder. The moon seemed to be literally a stone's throw away, and he began to wonder what lie ahead for him.

_Once I get up there, I will find out._

His feet touched the glittering surface of the moon and he padded across it slowly, looking back one last time at the path that had brought him up here.

_It's still there, that's good..._

"So you made it, I see." mused the young lady's voice from his far left. His eyes followed the invisible trail to her voice and raised a surprised eyebrow when he noticed she was sitting contently on the back of a huge, silver, dragon. The dragon looked down at him in both a weary, and perhaps, curious fashion. Gallows swallowed hard and looked up at the dragon, his eyebrows now furrowing in confusion.

"Do not fear Lunioras, he means you no harm." chided the young lady calmly. Gallows nodded to this and took a couple more steps forward, hoping that ole' Lunioras had a meal before meeting him.

"You left your ribbon behind so I figured I should return it to you." responded the young Baskar, holding the ribbon up so the waif could see it.

"That's sweet of you, but I'd rather you hold on to it and tell me what you see." mused the woman from atop the dragon. Gallows blinked to this but did as he was told. Squinting a bit, he discovered that the ribbon was laden with old Baskarian runes.

"Hmm, it says here that time is not eternal but part of an eternal cycle. What lies beyond time is not what we think. Eternity used to be a loop, a circle, a ring of light. However, he that guarded the loop fell asleep and dreamed of a world that mirrored his domain. Soon, he found himself roused by the sound of screams and terror. With sleep quickly fleeting on terrified feet, he arose and looked down on creation, only to find two worlds interlocked in a confused matrimony, opposed to one, perfectly balanced one. "What have I done?" he mourned, watching as one of his creations stabbed its counterpart in the back. It was then, order and chaos were formed. Two sides, same coin, an egg that split at its conception and then formed its own consciousness." Gallows finished the last sentence with a hint of confusion.

"But what does this have to do with me, ma'am?"

The young lady laughed to this and held out her hand the ribbon lifted itself up with silky wings, flew up to her outstretched hand, turning into a silver dove on contact and looking down at Gallows with fiery, red, eyes.

"Firstly, you need not call me "ma'am" or young lady, or whatever _else _you're thinking to call me. My name is Luasecia but you may call me Lu." she giggled, realizing that her name may be a bit hard to pronounce. Gallows acknowledged this bit of information with a tilt of his head in her direction.

"Alright, now that I know your name I'll start using it. So, Luasecia, what's the meaning behind what's written on the ribbon?" Lu shrugged to this and shooed the bird from her hand by giving it a light push up with her small hand.

"You've just discovered why there is evil in your world. Gallows, as the ribbon said, there are two sides to everything. Two sides to a story, two sides to a sword, two sides to gender, and almost anything else you can think of with importance. Your problem is that you don't connect to the stream, hence you're left out of the proverbial "loop" of things. Think of the stream as a mirror and think of the two planets as its reflection and its source. See, once you get connected to the silver stream you will start seeing things different, this much I can assure you."

"I see.." responded Gallows, watching as the young unborn leaned her chin against the top of Lunioras' silver head and stroked its shelled guard.

"I assume you want to know how to be connected to the stream again?" inquired she, looking down at him with a blank curiosity.

"Yes, that would be nice." he said quietly, looking now down at his feet.

The young woman leaned off to Lunioras' and ran her finger against the fabric of the night sky, severing it as a sword would cloth. The young Baskar watched in awe as existence shed its skin and unfurled into a landscape of silver fog draped across rolling green hills, with a stream of glimmering silver cutting non-obtrusively through the middle.

"This is L'eun Mt'ral, the passage of knowledge and the apex of creation, we all come from this stream and we will all, ultimately, return to it. You shall return to it, but not as a corpse but rather a soul reborn into its original purpose. You were not intended to live your life in the dark, without knowledge that you are indeed, worth more than just the earth you stand on. Go forth now, Gnshinurca, claim what is rightfully yours and open your eyes to a new reality, a _better _reality." spoke Luasecia, waving her hand grandly toward the silver stream, her expressionless face somehow radiating pure joy.

**_Come to us, remove the obtrusive fear from your feet and come forth. _**Beckoned the stream, glittering as a rainbow ray of light spilt the clouds and speckled the stream with pin pricks of multi-color light. Gallows took in a deep breath and willed his feet to move from their invisible, fear weaved, bonds. _One foot forward, it's not hard; stay focused, don't freak out._

The bonds of fear snapped and his legs regained their freedom, allowing him to move toward the stream uninhibited.

_**We will lead you there, come forth, do not fear.**_

He stopped at the brook's edge and lowered himself down into a kneel, dropping his hand cautiously into the tepid, sparkling, water.

The water lapped over his hand like a whispering tongue, each lap as gentle as the one before it.

_**You search for a reflection that is not there, a prayer not yet answered.**_

It took him a moment to realize that he, indeed, has no reflection.

_Am I even here? Is that why I'm not casting a reflection?_

_**You're not casting a reflection because you're not yet born into this stream. Close your eyes and accept our wisdom. **_

Gallows nodded to this and closed his eyes slowly, taking in a deep breath as he did so.

The effects were almost immediate; before his closed eyes, a landscape gilded with the glow of the moon built itself up from the ground and spread out like a ghost's materializing shadow. So taken with this beauty, he forgot to breath and slumped to the ground, exhaling forcefully in the process.

"This is...?" he whispered through shock dulled lips.

_"Come forward, stand up, don't be afraid."_ spoke the stars as the formed above his head.

_"Don't look back for that is the past, come here and join us."_ laughed the darkened hills as they finished forming.

"O-okay." nodded Gallows as rose to his feet and slowly toddled down the mysteriously lighten path.

_"You're forming your thoughts, now, do not be afraid." _came a calm voice from the heavens. The young priest stopped his unknown pilgrimage and looked up to the sky.

"So, this landscape is my thoughts being unfurled?" inquired he to the heavens. The answer was in the form of the sky shifting to a bright gold and then back to darkness.

_The sky just nodded..._

"Okay, so do I just walked forward?" Once again the sky "nodded" and he started to walk per the sky's request.

_"What you're about to see will answer everything." _and as the last vestige of silvery voice slipped from the unknown's tongue, the world around him sunk into itself and then was gone.

_"It all began with nothing so shall it return to nothing.. Gone is your inferior mind, from this day forward you are a new man."_

"But... the world.. it's gone! I can't reform the world anew; I'm not a god!" he exclaimed, shivering and wrapping his arms across his chest.

_"You're not? Then how come we submit to you? Enforce your will upon us and we shall comply. The world is more malleable and amorphous than you think." _demanded the voice as it quivered in the darkness.

"I see, then, form me the past. " and as he spoke these words, the past unfurled before him as a speck of light amongst the sheet of void.

_"Your past, present, and future are for you to write; we only make what you say. Remember this, Gnshinurca and reclaim lost time with this knowledge. You're the maker of the this world known as consciousness, never forget this." _

Then, in a flash of light, Gallows stood in the middle of all of his memories and realized then that he had, indeed ,changed.


	7. Septem

-1**_Septem_**

**_They spoke with words unknown and voices unheard; we had stumbled onto the end of the beginning. _**

"**Open your eyes; you haven't all day to sleep." **boomed a woman's voice somewhere above their unconscious eyes. Jet opened one eye and then the other cautiously, not wanting to evoke any form of attention to himself. Beside him, Virginia, seemingly unmindful of the danger she may have been in, sat up quickly and jerked her head from side to side, startlingly. The silver hair outlaw, knowing not what else to do, sat up as well and waved at her impatiently to lay back down and be silent. She ceased her frantic swaying and blinked at him.

"Jet, what are we do-?"

"Be quiet! Have you any idea what kind of situation we're in?"

Virginia was about to answer Jet's fury flamed question when Clive's voice cut between them silently.

" I don't know what kind of situation we are in at present, but I do know that if we keep this bickering up, we may run into trouble."

The young female Drifter squinted ahead and watched as Clive slowly stood to his feet and looked back at them over his shoulder impatiently.

"**I assure you, you have nothing to worry about." **assured the voice softly, the boom fading into the darkness.

"That's good, because I don't feel much like fighting." sighed Gallows as he rose from the dark floor and fell to one knee, trying to catch his breath.

" So we're all here, huh? Well, at least..." Jet rose and ambled slowly over to Gallows, watching the darkness ahead of him with cautious eyes as he helped him up. Gallows nodded his thanks to the android and then took a couple of steps forward, now shoulder to shoulder with the sniper.

"So, what do you make of this place?" asked the Baskar, resting his hand on the father's shoulder, which soon shrugged.

"I've no idea, if I had to take a guess, we are at the beg-"

"Beginning of time, Clive?" inquired Virginia as Jet helped her up as well. Clive looked back again and watched as Jet and Virginia joined their uneven line.

" It is the beginning of something." he theorized aloud, shifting his eyes toward the young lady.

**"That is correct, you _are _at the beginning of something, but it is not time." **darted the voice between each of their ears.

"Okay, so, where are we? Or should I ask _when _are we?" asked the young priest cautiously, not wanting to bring down a thunderous response upon their heads.

"Oh, good question Gallows." whistled Jet, unable to hide his amused surprise.

"Jet that's not ni-" Virginia's chide was cut off by a streak of light tearing down the middle of the surrounding darkness.

"I don't think it matters, anymore." deadpanned Gallows' voice from Virginia's left.

"**Indeed it doesn't." **concluded the voice as the light burned red and then darkened with a gigantic shadow.

"Oh ,shit." stated Jet simply, not knowing what else to say as a monstrous form stepped forward into the dancing darkness and growled menacingly.

"I doubt "shit" is a fitting word for that..." frowned the shaman as a tail tipped with spines danced above a serpentine head framed with horns.

**"It surprises me that you were able to make it this far; I had assumed that you all were nothing but idiots dancing in the light of the moon." **spat the creature with the same booming voice that had spoken not moments before.

"Yeah, well, I guess you learn something new every day." retorted Jet, reaching for his weapon and smiling as his hand wrapped around his forming Airget-Lamh.

"**Hmph, confident aren't you?" **mused the monstrosity as the light around it glowed into an almost blinding silver.

"Of course I'm confident," smiled Jet as he aimed the gun at the creature. " my friends have my back."

The monster cocked its head and twitched its tail with irritation as its fuzzy, muscle taunt, body leaned back against clawed haunches.

Virginia stepped forward and spun her fingers, watching with awe as her weapons formed, spinning, around her digits with a glimmer of blue light.

"I don't know why you want to fight, but it's apparent that you've no intention of backing down." spoke Virginia quietly, ceasing the spin when the muzzles of both guns aimed forward with a solid clang.

"**You wonder why I wish to fight? My dear child, I am the Arbiter, ** **the one that judges whether or not you all are worthy to return to your lives." **laughed the Arbiter haughtily.

"That's not for you to judge; I will return to my family..." spat Clive venomously, his hands twitching against his forming weapon.

"Heh, do you honestly think that I'm going to break the chain of deep thoughts? I've plenty to fight for; whether or not you believe it is completely up to you. Although..." smiled Gallows as he gripped the forming stock of his shotgun. "I don't give a damn _what _you decide, I'm going home." he finished, also aiming at the creature.

The Arbiter closed its hooded eyes with amusement and lifted its heavy tail above its head once again.

"**If you are so confident, then come; I haven't all day." **breathed the fiend, opening its eyes and glowering down at them with bloody malignance.

Without a word, all four Drifters fired their guns at once, their bullets striking almost in unison upon the monster's skeptically twisted brow. They watched seemingly in slow motion as their bullets exploded in murderous light and then fell in benign, glowing, chunks at its feet.

"That didn't go as expected..." mused Clive, slamming another bullet into the chamber and once again taking aim. The rest were about to follow suit when, in the middle of loading his gun, Jet stopped and dropped the gun suspiciously to his side. Gallows, having already loaded his chamber, looked over at Jet quizzically.

"What are you doing, man; it's gonna kill us if we don't act!"

"That's what it wants... It wants us to attack with the knowledge we already have, something comfortable, something familiar. But..." he released his grip on the sub-machine gun, watching with disinterest as it hit the darkened plane with a dull thud.

"I'm not going to play by its rules any longer; I've had it up to here with this thing." concluded Jet, placing the table of one hand above his head whilst the other lingered almost benignly at his side.

The young Baskar, realizing that Jet may have had a point, threw his gun to his feet and glared up at the Judge with irritation

"You know something, I think that Jet's right; you want us to fight you with what we already know. I don't know about you guys, but I learned something today... and it wasn't about women..." he mused, adding the last bit with a grin. The Moderator glanced down at the two weapons that had been discarded and then back up at the two men that had discarded them.

**"So you think that you can beat me without those, do you?" **

After a second of hesitation, the other two Drifters dropped their weapons and waited for the Arbiter to make its move.

"I trust in Jet's assumptions; you're not invincible, of this I'm certain." spoke Clive silently, looking at the Arbitrator with a look of determination on his scruffy face.

"I also believe in Jet, I'm not afraid of you." added Virginia to this fray of words and emotions.

**"Believe what you want, I haven't the time to argue." **spoke the monster with an apathetic inflection, stepping forward menacingly and squishing the bullets under large, clawed, feet.

"_Arbiter, cease your advancement, let me speak." _ whispered a lilting voice from behind the small group. In a ragged line, they turned around to face the new voice, almost forgetting the Arbiter in the midst of their surprise. There, several feet in front of them, stood a woman with a dove alighted in one hand whilst the other gripped a severed head loosely by its hair.

"_I see that you have found out part of our secret; I can't say that I am surprised, though." _spoke the woman, looking down at the severed head with a degree of disdain.

"Wait, what?" inquired the young priest, understandably confused.

"_You are quite correct, none of your weapons would have had any effect on the Arbiter, she is quite tough." _spoke the woman, her voice never forsaking its calm whisper.

"**Alria, why do you interfere? Noth'ral is not meant to be seen by human eyes and yet you stop me from obliterating a potential threat, why?" **exclaimed the Judge with no shortage of ire.

"_Because that's all they are, "potential threats"; my dear Arbi, you are way too swift in temper..." _chided Alria, shaking her head slowly from side to side.

The Arbitrator huffed her displeasure and sat back on her haunches, glaring at the four Drifters.

"_Now, I'm sure you all have questions, but, before you start to ask them, let me have my say. Noth'ral is a heaven dreamed up by those in hell, hence the reason there was decadence amongst its people. Noth'ral is a place of dreams and discovery. Each one of you was brought here to learn, courtesy of a dreamer in hell. I know not who, but I figure that whoever it was, wanted you all to know the truth behind everything. Knowledge is a dangerous thing, though, and I fear that, if I deem you not worthy of returning home, chances are you won't. Now, you may ask me questions if you so desire."_

Virginia was the first one to ask a question of the mysterious woman before them.

"You said that we knew part of the secret, which part was that, exactly?"

_"The fact that you cannot fight things here with your customary weapons and the reason behind that fact." _answered the dove-bearing woman simply.

"Okay, now it's my turn. What do you mean by the whole "If I deem you not worthy, you won't be going home" bit? Last time I checked, you weren't a god or anything close to that. You have no right to judge us when you're apparently no better. Look at you; you have a severed head in one hand and in the other a dove. What are you trying to prove? It seems to me like you're a walking contradiction, yourself. I won't have someone or _something _judging my fate when they seemingly have issues of their own to work out. I've nothing against you, lady, but I want to go home." came Gallows' voice from seemingly far away.

The woman paused a moment before answering.

_"If I were to say that I'm a god, I'd be half right. For you see, in every human's mind lays a god. I am the god in this dreamer's mind but not the overlord. In other words, if you can unlock the god in your minds, then you're obviously competent enough to handle the knowledge you have and are free to return home. If, however, you're unable to unlock said knowledge, then you're stuck here, I'm afraid."_ she concluded with an almost regretful shake of her head.

"Okay, but technically we've already unlocked some of our powers, you saw that when we formed our weapons from nothing. Man materializes a god or guardian out of necessity, that's my belief, anyway. The point of this is, I guess, is that if we feel the need to unlock our godliness then chances are we'll succeed, and you've given us the initiative we need." replied Clive quietly, pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose habitually.

"Plus, tell me, what good would we do here? We'd eventually rebel and probably create a hell right here in the heaven created by the suffering. Wouldn't that be ironic, to be returned to the state that you so feared and loathed? By denying our freedom, you're insuring your own demise. Don't you realize, Drifters have wings for a reason, and that reason is to fly where ever the winds take us." stated Jet in almost an uncharacteristic tone of voice.

"Jet..." smiled Virginia as she took his hand into her own and smiled up at the Arbiter. "A god is about to be born, are you ready?" she asked, sliding her hand from Jet's and holding her hand above her head, palm facing the Arbiter's now trembling body.

"I think it's time to leave." agreed Gallows, closing his eyes, lowering his hands to his side, palms facing out like his leader's.

"Yeah, this place is a bit too depressing for me." chuckled Jet, popping his knuckles and then motioning for the Arbiter to come forward with one hand as his other balled into a fist at his side.

"My family awaits my return, I won't lose here." responded Clive, crossing his arms in front of his chest defiantly, and slipping his foot back in preparation for the attack that would inevitably follow.

"**So, you feel that you're ready for me, do you? Ha, foolish humans!" **

A beam of pure light started to form in Virginia's idle hand whilst the one above her glittered with an unearthly light.

_Take hold of your fate, don't be afraid. _Her mother whispered from afar. She wrapped her hand around the now solid handle of a sickle and grasped it tightly, looking down in fascination at the incinerate, light-weaved, metal.

"**That is the Sickle of Artrnis!" **exclaimed the Judge in fear, eyeing the sickle's serrated hook warily. Virginia smiled to the Arbiter's fear and lowered her hand down to the side.

"You don't seem so confidant now, what happened?" she mused superiorly as she raised the Artrnis' weapon over her head menacingly.

"Now, now, Virginia, no need to be so malignant..." chided Clive with a hint of amusement in his otherwise steady voice. "I'm sure that we're not strong enough to..." his sentence trailed off as he watched claws of moon colored light snake around his hands and then solidify, prompting him to unlace his arms and hold them out in front of him a state of shock. "Well I'll be..." whistled Clive admirably as the claws ceased their ephemeral glow and dulled to a milky grey.

"**The Claws of Erithim!" ** mourned the Arbiter loudly, taking a few steps back and waving its tail left and right above its midsection.

"Well, this definitely bodes well for us..." was Clive's response to the Arbitrator's outburst.

"Man, things are looking up for us." mused Gallows as he closed his hands around a still forming axe's handle. As the tendrils of light wrapped around the even curves of the axe, Gallows nodded his head in approval and swung the axe half heartedly, creating a vapor trail of light as he did so. The Adjudicator leaned back on its haunches fearfully as Gallows swung the axe airily above his head in a wide arc and then brought it down in front of him as hard as he could, sending a shockwave of air toward the Arbiter.

"And what is this?" he asked, indicating the axe, whose sharply curved blade glimmered in the dancing light.

"**That is the Axe of Lio'Toric." **answer the creature after a moment of hesitation.

"And I assume the weapon I have in my hand is the Argetlahm?" inquired Jet, indicating the holy sword that he now grasped in his shaking hands. The Arbitrator, at a loss for words, simply nodded its acknowledgement and took a couple of steps back.

"What's wrong, Judge, cat got your tongue?" scoffed Jet as he sank the sword's blade into the darkened ground half way, a rare smile on his pale face.

**"I... I'd not be so confident if I were you; you still haven't won yet." **indicated the monster, leaning forward into a malignant walk.

"Oh, so you're ready to throw down, huh? Oh _fine, _just don't blame me when you crawl away from this battle, sans your appendages." sniffed Jet with a frown, unsheathing the sword from its earthen scabbard and pointing its wicked tip toward the Judger.

**"Enough talk, it's time to fight!" ** roared the enraged beast, coming to a halt a good twenty feet in front of them and rearing up onto its haunches.

_"This is it, then, the showdown..." _mused Alria, leaping several meters into the air and hovering in place at the apex of her jump.

Without another word, the Judge threw its weight forward and at the four, ready, team members.

Virginia threw one sickle at the Adjudicator's throat whilst the other hand carved an arc toward it exposed head. Grunting, the Adjudicator reared up on its hind legs once again, knocking Virginia's striking hand away with a swipe of its great paw, but not avoiding a biting cut that landed threateningly close to his jugular.

**"You pose a threat." **roared the beast angrily, swiping at Virginia's face with its shaky hand. Virginia ducked under the offending claw, grabbed the sickle that had flew obediently back into her hand, and thrust up, catching the beast's windpipe with the hook.

Unable to scream, the Judge flailed backwards, only to catch Clive's bladed fists in its back. Several sprays of blood issued from the wounds and the Arbitrator leaned forward, whimpering as Virginia yanked its windpipe out as she hopped back and gave leeway to Jet, who swung the Argetlahm in a vertical arc across the monster's face and then followed it up with an attempted thrust between the eyes. However, the Adjudicator fell back against Clive, successfully knocking the sniper off his feet and evading the fatal blow. Clive crawled backwards for several feet and then rose to his feet, seething with irritation.

"Here, catch." laughed Gallows' voice from behind the now befuddled Dark Agent. It slowly turned around and looked in the direction of the voice, just in time to catch an axe blow just below its left kneecap. With a screech, it lurched to the left, then to the right, and then fell straight forward on to its face, narrowly missing a glowering Jet.

"Hey, next time you decide to do something like that, let us _know._" barked Jet as he drove his sword through the Judge's head, effectively ending the fight.

Groaning, the Arbitrator slid its head up the sword's blade and looked at the team pitifully.

"**It's not over yet..."**

"Oh yes it is..." whispered Jet, yanking the sword toward him, hence slicing the monster's head in half.

Alria looked down at the spectacle below her with an amused smile; they had played the part, now it was time for them to leave.

"_You all are very resolved, I must say I'm impressed." _she whistled, descending gracefully in front of them with a smile on her face.

"Damn straight we're resolved, we have something to look forward too!" exclaimed Jet, dropping the dripping sword to his side and glaring at the woman.

"Now that we've beaten your friend, I think it's time we head home." Gallows said, pointing his axe at the fallen form with a degree of jubilance.

_"Well, you have, indeed, proven your worth..." _mused the keeper, slowly descending toward the earth with an uneasy smile on her face.

"Why do you seem so uncertain all of the sudden?" inquired Virginia, locking eyes with Alria as she alighted herself before them.

_"I'm uncertain because you all are human." _answered she with an air of uncertainty still clinging to her sweet voice.

"What difference does that make? You're a _projection _of human thought for Guardian's sake! I think you just want us to stay here to keep you company..." frowned the young priest, resting the head of the axe against the blackened ground and using it as a lazing crutch.

The dreamt woman sighed to this and sat down fluidly, looking up at the team with a degree of misery stamped in her tepid eyes.

_"Maybe you're right, maybe I don't want to be left alone here. I do realize, however, that you all would like to return home and," _she rose to her feet, a smile crossing her pretty face grudgingly. _"I will make sure that you all return home, safe and sound. Although..._" she paused, shooting uncertain glances at each of them in turn. _"I would like for you all to remember me and the Arbitrator, keep us alive by dreaming of us. A mind dreams only for so long before it fades to another thought... Don't forget us, promise me." _pleaded Alria, her eyes misting over with fear.

"Tell me, why should we remember or dream about the things that tried to trap us? It doesn't make sense to me; it's like you asking me to remember a nightmare I'd rather forget..." mused the android, tilting his head to the side and resting the sword on his hip, restlessly

_"I ask you to remember so we never forget. Nothing is worse than forgetting who you are and what your purpose is. I don't want to fade into distant thought without first passing on what I know to future generations. When you all have children, I will carry on into their thoughts and test them when the time is right, just as I test the four of you."_

"Wait, I don't want to sound rude, but, I don't _want _you to test my children, I don't want you to put the ones I love in danger..." pondered Virginia aloud, glaring suspiciously at the lady of dreams.

"_You bring a child within Death's grasp the second you bring it into the world; I'd rethink that sentiment if I were you." _

"Listen, I understand what you're saying, but I'll agree to remember you _only_ if you stay out of my life. I swear, if you interfere, you'll regret it. I agree with the whole "If you bring your child into the world, you bring it closer to death." bit, but I'd rather my child's fate rest in its own hands opposed to yours... That's all; those're my conditions, lady." replied Gallows with both finality and anxiety in his voice.

Alria blinked up at the Baskar, feeling the scathe of his expression and words fully.

Virginia alternated her gaze between the dreamt woman and her companion, unable to string coherent thought together. Where had that come from?

"_I see... well then, Gallows, it looks like you have your life planned already..." _

"I don't have it planned out, I just know what I want from it..." he answered to her unspoken question.

"_Fine then, see you." _she snapped her fingers and a column of silver light slid from the ground and enveloped the surprised young man. She turned to the rest of the group, who had, not surprisingly, taken up arms at their comrade's sudden departure.

_"So, what do you want? You cannot kill me, so you may as well put down your weapons." _demanded the shade.

"I am aware that I cannot kill you, but I can forget you. I won't deny that this journey has taught me much, but I cannot allow you to interfere with the future; that is an aspect of life that should be met with forethought, not foresight. I do not want to hurt your feelings, but, at the same time, I don't want to put my family in danger; so, I too do not wish for you to interfere. I don't know what to expect from life and I don't need someone or _something _to amplify that uncertainty. I wish to return to my family, now." demanded Clive, his words not once forsaking emphasis.

Alria nodded to his words and Clive found himself being enveloped in a light similar to the one that had claimed Gallows.

_"So, Virginia, having heard your friend's responses, what is your take to all of this?" _

Virginia slowly shook her head from side to side and closed her eyes.

"The future is wild, the present malleable, the past amorphous. I don't want you to interfere with _my _life because it's the only one I have." she opened her eyes and continued. "You seem to forget that there's a life beyond the one you know. Why don't you live your life and let me live mine?" demanded the young woman, glaring at the glowing visage of Alria.

"_I believe that you have a point, but answer me this one question before you go: What will you do now that you have a purpose?"_

Virginia smiled to his question, stepped forward, and rested her hand on Alria's shoulder.

"I will follow that purpose the best I can and learn from my mistakes, that's all I can do."

"_I see, very well, take care." _and with that, Virginia, too, disappeared into the column of light.

_"Now, last but not least, what do you think, Mr. Enduro?" _

"I think that you're weak for wanting others to remember you fondly. No one is here to stop me so I can say whatever I want. Why don't you remember yourself? I mean, I'm sure that someone as vainglorious as you would have more of a memory than what you let on. Sometimes stature is not measured by the people that remember you, but rather by the people _you _remember. I'm sure that if you dream of us, you'll remember your own existence in the process. Stop being weak, people like you sicken me." was Jet's curt reply. Alria glared at Jet for a moment or two and then started to laugh a high pitched, almost maniacal, laugh.

"_So, not only am I weak, I sicken you; that's really amusing now that I think on it, but..." _she curtailed her laugh with a cough. _"You _do _have a very good point. Perhaps you four are not the only ones that learned something today. Thank you, Mr. Enduro; I won't forget your words."_

Jet blushed to this, he wasn't used to thanks.

"Don't thank me, just live. Now let me go home, damn it, I'm hungry." huffed Jet, tapping his fingers against the hilt of the sword.

"_Heh, very well, see you." _she responded, snapping her fingers with a smile.

"Whatever." was Jet's response as the silver beam swept him away.


	8. Octö

_**Octö**_

_If you return to the beginning, you cannot regret the past._

Virginia slowly opened her heavy eyes and blinked a couple of times against the falling moonbeams, beneath her; cool sand crept against her skin and face. She sat up and looked around, noting with a certain degree of relief that she was in Filgaia.

"Was it all a dream?" she asked groggily, slowly rising to her feet.

"No, it wasn't a dream, if it was, we all had the same one." came Jet's voice from her far left. She looked over and watched as the silver-haired drifter rose to his feet and dusted his rump off, fussily.

"Yes, I agree with Jet, it was definitely not a dream." responded Clive, walking up behind Virginia and putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Man, remind me never to drink cocoa on an empty stomach..." mourned Gallows playfully from her right. Virginia blew a strand of hair from her face and walked over to the young Baskar, who was still prone on the ground, looking up at the stars.

"You're such a bum." laughed the young woman, kicking Gallows lightly on the side. Gallows rolled over on his stomach, moaning that Virginia was abusing him and that he was going to get the Ark on her.

"Oh come _on, _Gallows, she didn't even kick you that hard! Now, if you want..." threatened Jet, pulling back his foot in preparation to kick Gallows.

Gallows rolled over and looked at Jet with a smile.

"If you kick me, man, I'll kick you back."

"Whatever." was Jet's customary response as Gallows rose quickly to his feet.

"So, what are we going to do now?" asked Virginia, looking at the other three drifters.

"I guess we go and claim what's ours." was Jet's response.

"Oh, and get something to eat while we claim our goods; I'm starved, not to mention thirsty." pointed out Gallows, looking at Virginia pleadingly.

"I want to visit Catherine and Kaitlyn." supplied the sniper with a warm smile.

"Okay, we'll do that, then. Let's go, everyone." replied Virginia, returning Clive's warm smile and then waving everyone forward.


End file.
